Chapter 32

Veyn stepped forward and coughed awkwardly to break the silence, “ Alphonse already said the important points so I’ll just give some advice from experience. Don’t think that going to the other side is going to be a walk in the park. They will make it seem like equivalent exchange, but never forget that your usefulness can change at any notice and you will inevitably find yourself as a lab rat. And let me tell you, no lab rat has ever enjoyed being one. That’s all. The rest is up to you.”

Seeing that the others were done, Midori stood up expecting Tsuki to do the same. He even took a step towards the others before realising that Tsuki was not moving. He turned to look at Tsuki who was hunched back with his face obscured by his bangs.

“Hey Tsuki let’s go!” Midori whispered while nudging his leg with his foot.

Tsuki jolted before quickly glancing around. Seeing that the hall was nearly vacated , he quickly jumped to his feet.

Midori gave him a suspicious look, “ what is wrong with you? Your behaviour has been strange lately.”

“ It’s nothing. I am just worried and sad about this situation.” Tsuki said with an odd smile as he made to go back to his room.

Midori frowned, “ you know you can always talk to me, right?”

Tsuki puffed out a laugh, “ I know silly. You are like family to me after all. Don’t worry, I’ll be okay after a good nap. You should go to Veyn. It looks like he is in need of your help. See you laters ~”

Midori watched as he gave a brief wave without glancing back before fading from view.

With a frown, Midori sniffed the air in order to track the others. They hadn’t even bothered waiting for him.

“At least they left the door opened for me.” He muttered as he reached the room.

“Yo chibi. Close the door and take a seat.” Said Riot as he balanced his chair on two legs.

“ Why are we even including him? He is still a child, you know?” Mercy chimed in.

Riot suddenly dropped his chair back to the ground. He looked flabbergasted, “ Ah! I completely forgot! He doesn’t sound like one though?”

Midori shot Mercy a look, “hmph! I am way more mature than you! You old hag!”

Mercy immediately exploded, “what was that you brat?! I’ll have you know that I am still in my twenties! Just like everyone here! Are you calling them old too?! Tsuki too!”

Veyn sighed exasperatedly, “ stop shouting you two. We may have somewhat soundproofed the room but that is shoddy at best.”

Midori for once acted his age as he stuck his tongue at Mercy, “ I don’t care about the others! Only you are an old hag to me! And you don’t know Tsuki’s age, so there!”

Mercy was going to pounce on Midori when Alphonse interrupted, “ Tsuki is 22 years old.”

With his chin resting on his hand, he casually glanced at Midori, “ he went back to his room?”

Midori nodded, “yea, he did.....How do you know his age by the way?”

Veyn looked at Alphonse in surprise before giving a ‘so that is how it is’ look.

“ I just do.” Was his blatant response.

Midori gave him a bland look. “ By the way, have you noticed something about Tsuki lately?”

“You mean how he is more muted recently and always in reflection? I did. Don’t worry about it.” Alphonse hummed. “ Oh, and as we don’t have long to live now, I have a confession to make to you.”

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

They all startled at this.

Midori hunched his shoulders with suspicion, “confession?”

Alphonse nodded, “yea. You remember your first meal after you were transformed? Well, hope you enjoyed it cause that was your parents and uncle. Congrats, your revenge has already been accomplished.”

Midori slammed his hands on the table with anger, “ what did you say?!”

Veyn, Steve, Mercy and Riot reduced their existence and quietly watched the exchange.

Alphonse leaned back in his seat to face Midori directly. “ You heard me.”

“ Why are you telling me now!? Why not back then?! How could you-”

Alphonse cut him in his rant, “to keep you going.”

Midori looked at him with shock. “What?” he whispered.

“ I didn’t tell you to keep your motivation to live. A young child shouldn’t have to lose the will to live because of trash. That and also because Tsuki liked you. It was not done with malicious intentions. I intended to let you know once you had found another anchor and the will to keep on going on. That is no longer feasible, so I am letting you know.”

Midori clenched his teeth before abruptly getting up and leaving the room.

Mercy got up to close the door before taking back her seat. “ Was that the best way to tell him? It looked like he would be crying if he still could do so.”

Steve crossed his arms, “ it would have hurt either way. Let him think things through and sort through his emotions.”

Riot was more interested in the one-sided stare off between Alphonse and Veyn.

Alphonse let out a sigh before side-glancing at Veyn. “What?”

“You knew him from before, right? All those times you would take off and be gone for hours, sometimes days.... Is it him? The important thing you had to take care of even when the virus broke out.”

Mercy’s neck cracked at the speed she turned her neck, “no way! That little idiot is your ‘precious’?!”

“Woah!” Riot exclaimed with big eyes. “ So the ‘precious’ you were so possessive about to the point where you kicked our asses when we tried to follow you was a person all this time? I thought it was a cute pet!”

Veyn pushed his now ‘decorative’ glasses further up his nose. They held precious memories and he was unwilling to part from them. “ Really? We literally grew up together, faced death together and you still didn’t want to reveal his existence to us even then.”

Steve huffed with a laugh, “ I knew it was a person. Even though he is brutal and has a sour disposition, he is still a mother hen to the people he has taken a liking to. After all, he took us under his wing too. And he has no patience with animals. They always try to evade him or attack.”

Alphonse playfully kicked Steve’s chair, “who do you think you are calling mother hen?!”

Mercy, Riot and Veyn all fixed him with a deadpan look. “You!”

Alphonse: “Tsk. You were cuter when you were little. All obedient and following behind me like little duckies. Whatever happened to this innocence?”

“It crumbled and died when you decided to ‘train’ us”. Veyn drawled.

Mercy counted on her fingers, “throwing rocks at us during our runs for evasion and endurance training, randomly ambushing us during the night, trapping areas we will pass through, poison training without us knowing, survival in the back woods -”

Steve interrupted her, “can you stop listing all the hell he put us through. No need to make us relive that trauma.”

“Yea! I don’t want to think about the poison training! I really thought that was sour grape juice and that I was not feeling well because I was ill!” Riot muttered with a frown directed at Alphonse.

Alphonse gave them a bland glance. “It did make you stronger, didn’t it?”

“It sure did.” Was the unanimous response.

“Anyway, back to the topic. It is fortunate that you were with him at that time. Or else you would just be a mindless zombie that we would have to put down before following behind you.” Veyn said.

Mercy: “Yes. You didn’t even know his blood could do this, did you?”

Alphonse gave a sigh before responding, “ I don’t think those creeps even knew. He was deemed as a ‘failure’ after all. Shows what they knew. ‘Renowned researchers’ my ass!”

“How did you get infected anyway?” Riot asked.

“My memory is quite blurry. But I think I got bitten while breaking into the facility to get Tsuki. Talent matters not in the face of numbers. I got him out and travelled together with him as far as I could. When I completely transformed, I think he was the one who dragged me. Only he knows how we ended up at that amusement park. Part of my consciousness came back when I was hiding in the horror house.”

Steve frowned, “ fate is quite funny. Even with his memory gone and you lacking brain capacity, you still ended up together.”

Alphonse scoffed, “funny indeed.”

****

While the others were busy reminiscing about the past, Tsuki silently made his way outside. The rain didn’t seem to bother him as he made his way toward a group of zombies on higher ground further away. Those zombies had evolved a bit by devouring each other and could had a bit of consciousness.

At his approach those zombies were attracted by his scent but were wary to approach because of the scent of a stronger zombie covering him.

“You can understand me, can’t you?” Tsuki addressed them.

One of the zombies stepped forward and growled a response.

“Um, that’s good. You want to be like us right? I always saw you looking at the others in envy when they were training.... How about we make a deal?” Tsuki proposed.

A streak of lightning flashing in the sky briefly illuminated his face.

If others saw him right now, they would never believe that this boy with a wooden face and vacant haunting eyes was the same boy who happily smiled at them in the hallways.