Disposing of a dead body was easier than it seemed, or at least it was for Haru. He had to be discreet and time everything just right to ensure he wouldn’t be caught. Keeping his head down was something he was an old pro at, so he liked to think he had a solid handle on things.

Whenever he needed to make someone disappear, he took them in neatly wrapped pieces to the river. The water washed away any physical evidence as his problems floated away in the current. After so many times it just became muscle memory.

Under the cover of night, Haru was able to drag a duffle bag full of nosy neighbor to a long bridge over the deepest part of the river. It was way past midnight and all was quiet, no one would be out walking around at this hour. One by one, he pulled out bag after bag, grimacing when the coagulating blood seeped out onto his hands, and dropped them into the water. Each splash was deafening in the stillness, so he got it over with fast. Five bags, six splashes.

Wait…

Six?

Another splash rang out from behind him. He whipped around and, on the other side of the bridge, saw a girl tossing in heavy bags of her own.

Petite, short hair, and a high school uniform. Definitely not the kind of person Haru expected to see out here. How had he not sensed her coming? He worked too damn hard for someone to get the drop on him like this. No one had ever been able to sneak up on him, not even when he was little. Frantically, he scanned their surroundings, but no one else appeared on his radar. They were, hopefully, alone.

Once her last bag hit the water, she turned around, adjusting her blazer, and finally noticed Haru. Both froze like deer in headlights and neither dared to make the first move.

No words.

No movement.

Not even a blink.

She didn’t look scared or nervous, like Haru was, if anything she seemed confused. The hood of his sweatshirt was up, but she was close enough to make out his face and the blood on his hands. In any other circumstance, Haru would have killed her already. He’d never had any witnesses before, but he was prepared to deal with it.

Well… he thought he was.

He didn’t know what exactly had been in those bags, but he had a good guess. There was no telling what this girl was capable of and he couldn’t just charge her blindly, no matter how anxious he was. He had to be smart about this.

The girl gave him a quick once over, bowed, and took off running without a second glance. Haru wanted to give chase, everything about this mess was giving him that itch again, but his common sense won out and told him to go home. She ran into the dense neighborhood at the end of the bridge and could be anywhere by now. If he went after her, he could be running into a trap, and even if there wasn’t one, chasing a school girl in the middle of the night would not look good for him.

His best course of action was to run home as well. Itch aside, for some reason, he wasn’t as worried as he probably should’ve been. If she turned him in she would be bringing attention onto herself and would have to justify why she was at the bridge as well. Still, they had seen each others faces and that alone was a much bigger concern since it was clear neither of them were afraid to get their hands dirty. Haru didn’t recognize the uniform and he didn’t have the time to go tracking it down. Not to mention he ran the risk of being labeled as a pervert for skulking around high schools and scrutinizing all of the girls.

For now, he’d need to watch his back and do his best to ignore the itch.

——————————————

A few days passed since that night on the bridge and Haru was slowly being consumed by the anxiety. He kept looking over his shoulder whenever he left the apartment and as a result he hadn’t been going outside anymore than he absolutely had to. His uneasiness was contagious, because Aki was steadily becoming more and more skittish when he felt his brothers nervous energy.

As per usual, Haru was on his way to pick Aki up from school after work. He expected to find this little brother shyly shuffling off to the side like always, but today he was smiling and laughing. Aki’s sweet little smile filled his heart and breathed new life into him, but his heart screeched to a halt when he saw who he was speaking to.

The short haired school girl was standing right in front of him.

Talking to him.

Making him laugh.

Too close.

Too close. Too close. Too close.

TOO FUCKING CLOSE

It took every ounce of will power and restraint Haru had to keep from running up and killing her right then and there. Quickly, he walked up to them and, as calmly as he could, took Aki’s hand.

How the hell did she find them?!

“Hey kiddo, what’s up?” he asked, his tone happy, but rigid.

“I’m talking to Miwa-nee-chan,” Aki said. “She told me she knows you.”

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Haru would need to reeducate Aki on stranger-danger later. His rage was burning twice as hot now that this freak had already earned herself a nickname. His itch was exploding all over his body, it hurt so bad that he thought he might pass out. But he couldn’t be weak. Not here and definitely not in front of Aki.

The girl, Miwa, bowed and flashed a radiant smile. She was cute, but Haru saw right through her. He’d lost count of how many times he’d forced that same charming smile himself, he could spot a fake from a mile away.

“Yeah, we met the other day on the bridge,” she said, her smile not wavering as a cold glint passed through her eyes. “I wanted to treat you to coffee. You’re brother’s welcome to come too.”

Before Haru could say no, Miwa pulled something out of her blazer pocket, just enough for Haru to see what is was.

An exacto knife.

“I just want to talk for a bit. It won’t take too long, I promise!”

She couldn’t be serious.

Haru was speechless. Was she really going to try something outside in broad daylight? He’d never encountered this breed of crazy before and he needed to figure out how to keep Aki safe while he took care of this.

“Sure,” he said, cautiously, “thanks.”

“Really?” Aki gasped in excitement. “Cool!”

Money was tight, so they rarely went out and because of Haru’s ever increasing paranoia, crowds were a problem as well. But his best bet was to play along with whatever Miwa’s plan was until he could make one of his own, lest she cause a scene right in front of the school. He motioned for her to go ahead.

“Lead the way.”

Miwa cheered and slid the cutter back into her pocket as she sauntered ahead. Haru walked with Aki, who wasn’t very fast to begin with, a little ways back to keep a healthy distance from the girl and out of swinging range. She didn’t comment on it, only keeping up polite chatter with Aki that Haru wasn’t really paying attention to.

He couldn’t get a clear read on her and it was driving him insane. Her voice and body language were calm, but she kept her hand in her pocket and didn’t try to get closer. How she could be so chipper was a mystery. She was like him. Sure, he put up a front to the rest of the world too, but didn’t everyone? Miwa didn’t just blend in. She put on a show. The way she spoke, the way she carried herself, was all extroverted and confident. If her bag and shoes were anything to go by, she was wealthy too. He vaguely remembered girls like her from his school days, very popular and the kind of person who attracted a lot of attention. Hell, Aki was afraid of everyone and she had gotten him to actually speak to her!

Why the hell was a girl like her tossing bags at the bridge?

Haru quietly scratched at his fingers as Miwa lead them inside a small cafe and ordered for them. Two ice coffees with biscotti and a soft serve ice cream for Aki.

They took a seat in a booth at the back and as far out of sight and earshot as they could manage. It was crowded, which was making Haru sweat; not only from the sheer amount of bodies surrounding him, but because it would make fighting or escaping much harder. Miwa made it clear she wasn’t afraid to start something in public.

“You like ice cream Aki?” Miwa asked as the boy ate his treat with gusto.

“Mm-hmm,” Aki hummed, smiling brightly. “Thank you so much!”

“No need to thank me, Akichi.”

Haru scowled at how familiar she was being with them, acting like they were already friends or something, and chugged his coffee as fast as he could. The sooner they finished, the better. He paused though, when he saw Aki getting ice cream smeared on his cheek.

“Slow down, kiddo, or you’ll give yourself a stomachache,” he said, wiping the smear away with his thumb. Aki only nodded and giggled before he dug back in.

“Akichi, you’re so cute! You’ll have to let me borrow him sometime, Haru,” Miwa said, smirking as she watched Haru shake with rage. His face was so red, she wondered if he’d faint.

He was forced to let their benign small talk go on until Aki excused himself to the restroom. Normally, Haru wouldn’t leave him on his own, but he had to take the opportunity to get some answers.

“Akichi’s a real sweetie,” Miwa said as Haru watched him.

He growled and reached out to grab her, but she leaned back, raising her hands in surrender.

“Easy there nii-chan, I’m not here to hurt you or your little brother.”

“Forgive me for not taking your word for it,” Haru sneered. “Who the hell are you?”

Miwa grinned, kindly this time, and bowed her head.

“I’m Miwa Mitsuboshi. I’m a first year at Higashi Private High School. Aki says you’re Haru-nii?”

“…Haruhiko Izumi.”

Miwa laughed at his unamused tone and took out her phone from her school bag.

“It didn’t take me long to find you. You need to be more aware of your surroundings.”

She pulled up several photos of the boys walking home together and going into their apartment.

Haru was beyond pissed off and his skin crawled as it sank in just how much his privacy had been violated, but he had to admit, he was impressed. She was a better sneak than he was and clearly had much more time on her hands.

Her photos paused on a candid shot of Haru giving Aki a hug when he picked him up yesterday. Haru couldn’t hold back a fond smile from spreading across his face. He didn’t have many photos of them together.

“Aki is very special to you, isn’t he?” Miwa asked, as though it weren’t painfully obvious. “I take it you were on that bridge for him.”

Haru’s attention snapped back to her and nearly jumped at her for having the audacity to bring something like that up in public, but Miwa wasn’t intimidated.

“Hey don’t worry! It’s none of my business, I don’t care about your details. I didn’t bring you here to threaten either of you.”

“Then why?!”

Haru still wasn’t buying it, though his itch was toning down now that the threat of immediate danger was supposedly fading away. Miwa sighed and pulled another picture up on her screen.

“Look, I just wanted to let you know that you don’t have to worry. I get it. I was out there for my special one too.”

She showed him a selfie taken with a tall girl wearing glasses and the same uniform.

“That’s my girlfriend, Junko,” she explained. “The trash I was dumping the other night was one of our classmates. That pig stole her PE uniform, how sick is that? Pervy fuck.”

Malice dripped from her teeth and the sadistic gleam in her eyes told Haru that she got far more out of a kill than his normal level of satisfaction. But, all the same, she was right.

She understood.

She was like him.

The itch didn’t disappear like he hoped it would, but it was little more than a mosquito bite now. Though that was probably because Aki was coming back.

“Does she know she’s your girlfriend?” Haru asked with a smirk.

Miwa rolled her eyes.

“Yes.”

“Just making sure.”

“What’d I miss?” Aki asked, happy to see his brother smiling.

“I was asking Haru if I could bring my girlfriend with us next time. She’s at swim practice today, but I’m sure she’d love to meet you both!” Miwa said, looking Haru dead in the eye, as if daring him to contradict her.

“I’d like that too!”

The boys didn’t have any friends and, despite his anxiety, Aki was excited at the idea of making new ones. Usually, new people scared him, but if Haru was smiling than it must be ok!

Haru, on the other hand, desperately hoped that this wouldn’t become a regular thing. He didn’t like sharing Aki, but he supposed Miwa wasn’t really a threat. She had her own special person to worry about, so he hoped that she had some comprehension of boundaries. Though her display this afternoon did little to reassure him.

The time came to finally part ways and Haru was exhausted. Going to work all day was bad enough, all he wanted to do now was go home and have Aki all to himself. He deserved it after all of this.

“Thanks for hearing me out,” Miwa said and held out her hand, “I hope we can be friends.”

Begrudgingly, Haru took her hand and gave it a firm shake, only for Miwa to jerk him closer and whisper in his ear.

“And I hope we have an understanding. We’ll stay out of each other’s way, right?”

Her ice cold voice sent a chill down Haru’s spine, but he grinned and nodded all the same.

He knew this wouldn’t be the last time their paths crossed, but maybe having someone like her in his corner wouldn’t be so bad.