Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 15: The White Purity of Truth

Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 15: The White Purity of Truth

As soon as the waitress walks back to the other side of the shop, wondering if we needed anything, Kaito leans back in his seat and crosses his arms over his chest. Rin has long set her mug down on the glass table, finding the rather sweet-smelling coffee rather... uninteresting now.

Both mine and Rin's gaze are firmly locked onto the man in front of us, seeming as soon as we look away, he'll disappear when we turn back. Kaito doesn't hesitate, "His schizophrenia almost seemed like a completely different disorder if you were to compare it to its regular case, like yours, Miku. No one knew what triggered it to be as bad as it was." He pauses, seeming to suddenly hesitate over his choice of words, wondering as if he should continue.

"In his files, doctors stated he was constantly 'dreaming'. According to them, his case of dreaming was when in the middle of being awake, he would completely... shut off. It's as if he had suddenly died - he could no longer hear, no longer see, no longer feel under any physical means." He closes his eyes. "When he woke up, he would appear panicked and terrified half to death. Later, his doctors found out that while he suddenly blacked out, he would 'dream'. This means that he would wake up somewhere else, somewhere nonexistent in his own head, and he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between reality and his imagination..."

His eyes slowly, barely open again, them immediately slitting onto me. "But you already know that, hm? After all, I was there when you were dreaming in your classroom that day. With Rin."

Immediately, I open my mouth to speak, to object to some manner without even thinking twice... but I stop before I can even voice any excuses. I don't have an excuse. I don't have a reason. All I am left with from the day I wrapped my hands around Rin's thin neck is an unspoken apology. That day, if I let my anger and determination surpass Kaito and the drug he indulged me with... could I handle having the title of a murderer?

Rin glances over at me from the corner of her eye, watching my blank expression before she places her hand gently on my shoulder and fixes her gaze back onto Kaito. "It's nothing anymore, it wasn't her fault. I haven't heard a lot, but I've heard enough to know that when Len had it, he had no control of what he saw."

As if as soon as her hand lifts from my shoulder to return to her side, a large weight along with it immediately hoists off of my shoulders and I can... breathe. My gaze jolts to Rin, who glances back at me and softly smiles. I have never realized it before, how desperate I was to hear her say that it's alright. That I never meant to hurt her.

"Anyway," faintly Rin coughs dryly, returning us back to the reason why we came here in the first place. "What else? Did you know him personally?"

He vaguely shakes his head. "No, but let's not drive into my personal life, hm? I'll tell you what I know about him, but nothing about how it has to do with me," his voice drops quietly, his pale face shadowed. I blink at the man, not too sure how to respond. Instead, I ignore it overall and continue on, "Then tell us how Len was when he was alive." I lick my lips, "They had that in his files, right?"

The last part I added slowly, hesitantly as the words vaporized from my lips while I stare dryly at Kaito. Rin and I can only assume he knows all of this information about files he might've read on Len's case... but when Len admitted that he and Kaito had formed some sort of unsaid relationship - or used to, rather - maybe not everything is just researched.

Kaito stares dimly at me, his eyes a dark piercing shade of blue. I wince lightly, as if he could see through my words and can tell I'm setting him up - setting him up to figure out what's written on paper and what's burned in his memory. Either way, he appears to ignore or not have noticed it because he sighs and down stares at the table between us.