^ original picture for the cover
CWs: violence, blood, mentions of abuse, self-harm, smoking, drinking.
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By the time Y/n had left the Soseki family's house, the sky had darkened once more and the streetlights had turned on.
He'd been fed his fair share of cakes and soups, Taeko apparently being fond of cooking and wanting an opinion that wouldn't "spare his feelings." Well, after a while of working around baked goods, Y/n lost a taste for it, but he had, admittedly, spared Taeko's feelings and complimented the baking anyway. The soup was good, though, and Y/n had pleased Taeko (this time unintentionally) by having a bowl or two.
Not for the first time, Y/n found himself riddled with discomfort. He wasn't sure how he kept finding himself walking alone in the dark, but by now he needed to adjust his schedule to prevent it from happening so much. It was this setting that brought back bad memories.
"Y/n, oh my god, Y/n, it's you. Fuck, I'm- I won't come back. Just- just tell Erin, Towa, Hannah, all of them, tell them I love them. I love you, Y/n. Don't forget that, okay? I love you, Y/n, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."
Y/n had sworn he wouldn't forget him, but that moment, that pleading, as if he had to convince Y/n to comply, was something the (h/c) boy never wanted to think of again. It hurt too much. Hurt that Y/n had looked everywhere in the pouring rain, nothing fully visible under the light of the moon and through the tears in his eyes. Looked everywhere and found nothing.
He never forgave himself for that.
A cold hand took his in that moment, and he was snapped out of his thoughts. The distraction was welcome, but he turned to look at whoever grabbed his hand and was met with a sheep. Y/n jerked his hand away, but the sheep held onto it.
"Need someone to walk you home, love?" A voice said through muffled laughter, and Y/n turned only to be met with a lanky guy in a black boar mask. He was shirtless and had so many tattoos, his entire, once tanned torso was darkened with ink. His ears and nipples were pierced and Y/n would guess that there were more underneath the mask.
The sheep-headed girl was dressed much differently, in a pastel pink and white dress that was complimented by the white mask. The skin that was exposed was pale-white and cold to the touch. It was odd.
Why does this keep happening to me? Y/n thought, unsure if he was supposed to be scared or not. The masks were unnerving, especially because it seemed to be a reoccurring accessory. The Swine, the rabbit-masked girl, the clowns, The Fish, and now The Boar and The Sheep. Was this some sort of cult?
"No," Y/n answered anyway, at the faint chance that maybe they'd leave him alone if he denied the offer. I guess hope is all I have right now.
"It wasn't a question," The Boar said.
Hope is a bitch.
"Right," Y/n mumbled, disappointed but not terribly surprised. Unlike his little walk with the clowns the other night, Y/n felt like he wasn't being dragged places. The Boar kept his hands off of him entirely and The Sheep simply just held his hand, albeit a little tightly when Y/n tried to pull away.
"You don't seem very scared," The Boar observed, his hands shoved carelessly into the pockets of his baggy pants. If he wasn't a possible member of some sort of evil organization (god, that label made it sound like something out of a cartoon), Y/n would admit that he was quite attractive. Then again, he'd admitted it for both Chris and Christian, and both of them were, well, borderline-pedophilic.
"This isn't my first time," Y/n replied, shrugging slightly. He didn't feel as relaxed as he seemed, but he also didn't feel like he was in any immediate danger.
"Oh, yeah, with Marcy and Dante," The Boar nodded. So they are somehow related. "So we're not as scary?"
Y/n wasn't sure why he was entertaining this conversation, but he responded with: "No. They were more... pushy. And they had a gun."
The Boar hummed, and then Y/n abruptly felt the cold press of a knife against his throat. The Sheep dropped his hand and The Boar wrapped his free arm around the (h/c) boy's shoulders, pinning his arms to his sides.
"This do the trick?" The Boar spoke directly into Y/n's ear.
Just as suddenly as the physical threat came, it went. The Boar's hands were ripped off of him, a dangerously quick movement that, if Y/n had been anymore unlucky, could've slit his throat.
Y/n spun around, expecting to see, maybe, a large dude with the physique of a football player. He was met with a girl with curly, black hair and brown skin. The loose-fitting hoodie she wore did nothing to reveal what might lay beneath, but if the boar-masked male's reaction was anything to go by...
Y/n took a few steps back, along with The Sheep, who didn't look surprised or afraid or anything at all. She stood there with her hands clasped in front of her, rocking back and forth on her feet, as if waiting patiently for The Boar to finish getting jumped.
"Mona, baby, what a pleasant surprise! How's the wife?" The Boar attempted to make casual conversation, though the nervous tint to his voice wasn't hidden nearly enough. The girl, Mona, looked at him, unimpressed.
"I'm not married."
"Tomato, tomato," The Boar shrugged, failing to change the pronunciation of the second 'tomato,' but Y/n supposed there were other things to worry about, like, perhaps, running.
And Y/n cursed himself for forgetting how to move in that moment.
"Just get out of here," Mona sighed, exasperated, like this altercation was nothing but a small inconvenience. When The Boar did not immediately run for his life, she added, "now," and that seemed to do the trick.
The Boar ran off and The Sheep followed him at a much more sedated pace, half-skipping along. At one point, she did a little spin and waved back to Mona and Y/n.
The (h/c) boy snapped himself out of whatever trance he was in, and took a cautious step back. He wasn't sure if 'get out of here' applied to him, but he'd rather be potentially wrong and gone than potentially wrong and dead.
"Not you. You're Erin's bitch, aren't you?" Mona grabbed his shirt and dragged him into the alleyway she'd came out of. An experimental tug in the other direction proved that, yes, The Boar's reaction to Mona tackling him to the ground was completely justified, and Y/n stopped that little antic before he got himself hurt.
Then, her actual words filtered through. What? Hold on, I'm who's what now? What did this random woman know about Erin? Certainly not enough to know... that other thing she said. Which was completely false! Y/n wasn't anyone's bitch. Was he? Another thought came, though.
Oh fuck, why's it gotta be an alleyway? When have alleyways ever been good places to be dragged into?
Once he was pulled past the illuminated area, he noticed more people. Two, to be exact, and he was relieved to see a familiar face. Jamie. She probably wouldn't kill him. Right? He just walked her brother home and ate her dad's food. Sure, she didn't know any of that, but surely the apple didn't fall that far from the tree?
...Right?
Mona let go of him, and moved to stand next to someone. She said something after that, but Y/n didn't hear her. The other someone in that alleyway was also familiar, not someone he knew, and he'd always celebrated that fact.
No fucking way.
"Oh shit, it's my brother's bitch!" The short, brown-haired girl said, the amused smirk that aimed itself Y/n's way so unbearably similar to Erin's. Mavis.
"Uh, no," Y/n disagreed quietly, unsure what else to say. Y/n had heard things about Mavis. None... very positive. He didn't know what he felt. He certainly didn't like the woman. Not after what she put Erin through, not after all those years ago, when him and Erin were younger, and he listened to the other boy bawl trying to figure out what he did. Whatever it was never being his fault.
Y/n had never heard Erin cry before that day. He'd always bottled up his emotions, sealed them so tight Y/n feared nobody would be able to access them again. Not even Erin himself. Then, that day came, and the bottle that Erin had so carefully crafted to contain everything was smashed.
Y/n had sat with him and just let him cry. Held him while he sobbed. He'd only been seven years old then, and after that, he started to feel things more openly. Before, it was only anger. Now, Erin was Erin. Y/n thanked Ms. Donovan for that, but if you asked Erin, he'd give all the credit to Y/n. Not that the (h/c) boy knew that, after all.
"So, how's life treating you? I'm assuming Erin's doing okay?" Mavis asked, and Y/n was overcome with an irritation that fueled his next words. Had this been anyone else, Y/n might've reconsidered his word choice. But, Mavis wasn't anyone else, and Y/n wasn't going to act like she was.
"Now you care? After years of acting like he doesn't exist, now you care?" Y/n's voice shook, a mix of discomfort, anger and fear. Erin always said that Mavis was nothing to him when she was brought up, which she hadn't been for so long, but Y/n had been there when Erin was still with his parents. With her. The bruises hadn't just been from his father, Y/n knew now.
A truly nasty expression etched itself into Mavis's skin. She ran her tongue over her teeth, her kinder facade dead and buried.
"No, no, I don't, and if you go and tell him about this, you're gonna tell him that. I don't care about him. It hurts less if he knows that," Mavis snarled, eyes narrowing.
"Hurts who less? You?" Y/n wrapped his arms around himself. "He wanted you to care about him!" The (h/c) boy's voice rose only slightly when Mavis's went deadly quiet.
"Did he, now?" She muttered, a mix of disbelief and amusement in her tone. As if he wouldn't, after being abandoned by her. You were all he had, Y/n wanted to tell her, but there was nobody who knew that more than her and Erin. He wouldn't be saying anything she hadn't already known.
That made it hurt worse.
"He doesn't anymore. He hasn't and he won't," Y/n said, voice shaking more than before. The (h/c) boy grew up in a neglectful home; he knew what it was like to be surrounded by people you wanted love from and being ignored instead. He didn't want that for Erin, not when he knew exactly what it felt like.
"That ungrateful cunt-!" Mavis took a step forward and was pulled back by Mona, who wrapped her arms around her and kept her where she was. Y/n shrunk back, but he was already up against the wall.
The brown-haired woman took a steadying breath, then continued.
"I was a kid, too. I didn't know what I was doing, I was just trying to get out. If that meant leaving Erin, I was fine with that. I didn't know what else to do!" Mavis insisted, like any amount of justification was going to undo that night.
"You're older now and you still haven't tried, Mavis," Y/n tried to make her understand, but there was so many words that went unsaid. He didn't like this. He didn't like arguing. He didn't like angering people.
Especially not when the person he angered very easily slipped out of Mona's hold, turned around, and punched the wall. Hard. Y/n flinched, especially when an odd, pained noise left Mavis and her fist bled. She cradled it before sitting down.
"Easy," Mona mumbled, handing her a cigarette and a lighter, which she accepted graciously.
Jamie leaned towards Y/n slightly, looking up at him from her spot on a crate with a vaguely entertained expression. "She's not like this when she's sober, I promise."
Y/n nodded, but he didn't believe her. Not fully, even if Jamie might've known the brunette better than he did. He only knew what Erin told him, and from the little tidbits of information he was given at times, intoxication had nothing to do with it.
While the (h/c) boy was thinking of something to say to the dark-haired girl, he remembered something Taeko had told him.
"Oh, and if you see Jamie, would you tell her to come home? I trust that she'll keep herself safe, but things happen."
'Things happen' was certainly a way of saying 'people are getting kidnapped and murdered everyday' but Y/n appreciated the less threatening version before he proceeded to walk home alone in the dark.
"Uhm, your dad wants you home," Y/n said, a little awkward. He knew Jamie in school, but in a separate, more menacing environment, it felt weird to talk to her so casually. "And I, uh, should probably go too..."
"Nice try." Mona grabbed his shirt again, pushing him lightly but forcefully to sit on the ground.
Being manhandled by people I don't know is getting a bit old, Y/n thought, though it felt nice to sit down after being on his feet all day. Even if it was on the nasty, concrete floor of an alley.
"Are you friends with those masked assholes?" Mona asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously. Y/n wondered where the impromptu interrogation came from, but didn't linger on it for too long. Maybe if he answered all of her questions, he'd be allowed to go home and sleep.
"I don't think so." Y/n leaned back against the wall.
"You don't think so?"
"I don't know who they are under the masks, so, I don't know, maybe?" He muttered, genuine when he said that. He'd like to say 'no' confidently, but he really didn't know. Mona certainly didn't think so.
"Quit being a smartass and answer the question." The dark-haired girl rubbed the bridge of her nose, the gesture filled with unspoken irritation. Y/n wasn't sure why she was pissed with him; she was the one who kept him here.
"My fault. So, uh, no," Y/n answered. "Do you know who they are, then? Or... what they are?"
The (h/c) boy thought for a moment that Mona was going to pull some 'I'm asking the questions here' bullshit, but she answered the question easily.
"Not under the masks, no, but they're supposedly a gang that tortures and kills people who deserve it, like pedophiles, rapists, the worst of the worst," Mona spoke with a roll of her eyes.
"That's..." Y/n hesitated. "But... they've killed so many people who've done nothing." And he was exaggerating when he said 'so many people.' He didn't know what that... gang could've, didn't know if the people that disappeared were more than what they presented at face value. Were more than the faces on posters that had been left in the streets to wither with time.
There were only two people who came to mind when Y/n had offered that exaggeration. Milo, for starters, a child. A thirteen-year old boy whose biggest sin was being late to class. Far from the depraved individuals Mona brought up. The other person that came to mind...
"Don't forget that, okay? I love you, Y/n, I'm so sorry."
"Pfft!" Mavis snorted from where she'd been quietly entertained by a bottle of booze. "Preaching to the choir, there!" She laughed, her leg shaking up and down, the arm leaning on it holding a cigarette while her other hand strangled the neck of the bottle.
Y/n nodded as he pretended to know what that meant. "Can I go now?" He asked, mainly to Mona, but Jamie responded.
"Sure. I can walk you home if you want. Return the favor for Jonah, y'know?" Jamie nudged his shoulder, smiling light-heartedly. Y/n wondered absentmindedly if Jamie was intoxicated too, mostly because she didn't smile very often. She wasn't... not happy all the time, it just never showed. Then another thing came to mind —
"How'd you know I walked Jonah home?"
"Hey, look. It's that bitch!" Mavis whisper-shouted, leaning sideways a bit to peer past the opposite wall of the alley. Y/n, out of curiosity, looked as well, and saw Melody, half of her face still bruised from the other day.
Jamie groaned, pulling her hood over her head.
"You fucked that pretty face up pretty good, but I think I can do better." Mavis cracked her neck, standing up a tad shakily. "Mona, if you will?"
Mona groaned, then ran out of the alleyway. Y/n looked at Jamie for some sort of explanation. He didn't know what needed to be explained, another answer he hoped Jamie had.
"Hey, this, uh, isn't your crowd. You should go," Jamie muttered, tilting her head in the direction of the alley's opening. Just in that moment, Mona came back through it, a very panicked Melody struggling under her arm.
Mavis cracked the bottle against the wall, which shattered into dozens of tiny, sharp pieces across the ground. Mona shoved Melody to the floor, and Mavis lowered herself onto the younger girl, lifting the end of the broken bottle —
Y/n agreed with Jamie, turning to leave. His sleeve was grabbed before he could fully go and he inwardly groaned. You want me to go, then you want me to stay, you tell me to leave, I try to leave, you don't let me.
"And, by the way, you'll make a lot'ta enemies if you say shit about this. For your sake, not ours, keep quiet, a'ight?" Jamie asked, nothing too insistent or deadly about her tone. It was a warning, sure, but not a 'I'm going to kill you' warning, more of a 'someone definitely is' warning.
The second his shirt was released, he left. At the risk of looking suspicious, he ran back to his apartment.
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Tall, imposing heels walked across a marble floor, the little clicks of contact speaking volumes about the layers and layers of power the wearer held. None of the housekeepers made a sound as the already-tall woman passed through the halls.
Despite her always-intimidating demeanor, she was in a state of panic. Her daughter was yet to return home, and after that girl at her school had so viciously attacked her, the mother was not wrong to be worried about the girl's well-being.
"Madam, I am sure your daughter will be fine," Her personal maid assured her, walking right beside her and taking long strides to keep up. "She has never shown untrustworthy behavior before."
"It is not Melody I do not trust, it is that girl," The woman snarled, upper lip curling in disgust. "I can not assume my daughter is safe when such savages are allowed back on the streets after committing such a heinous crime!"
"Girls her age get in petty fights all the time. What makes this one so different?" The maid asked, keeping a polite tone as to not anger the already unraveling woman.
"That girl is an Ituko! They have bad news written all over them!" The woman snapped. "Now, are you going to tell me anything useful or am I going to have to-"
Her words were interrupted. The front door clicked open, and a girl walked in. A familiar face, at one point, but as the woman looked over the girl who was undeniably her daughter, there was hardly a face to recognize.
A mess of blood and glass. That was all that was left. The woman and the maid stood in shock.
"...Mom?"
The woman screamed.
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