Weeks went by, as Aotori witnessed rotations of warriors from base 37, Hoshikawa was among them. Aotori then investigated the Ookami residence once again. There was still a puzzle they need to piece together. The house was in perfect condition now, because the warriors' safe coverage already included the area. Aosuke helped Aotori to lobby the warriors to allow their investigation even though there was still tension between them.
The destroyed parts of the house were fully recovered, and thus they were able to brainstorm inside the house more comfortably. Kyuuto once again investigated Shin's room, now it's fully recovered, and his picture collection became more like an exhibition museum.
"It's beautiful..." Kanata walked in from behind him, as she was mesmerized by the collection, "your brother was very talented,"
"I'm as surprised as you are," Kyuuto replied with a smile. The polaroid pictures were lit by the sunshaft through the room windows.
Kanata then touched a picture of a girl in a uniform, "Who's this?" she asked, as she looked closer at it. The girl was wearing a black blazer with short skirt, with ponytail hair. Her picture was taken while she was looking out a classroom window, "she's gorgeous,"
"Maybe it's one of Shin's highschool friends?" Kyuuto was also intrigued and approached the picture. But Kanata brushed him off while laughing a little.
"No, she's different... look," Kanata uncovered a lot more pictures of the girl behind a curtain, "she's special," all of her pictures were taken inside and around their school building, but strangely, there's no picture of her and Shin together.
Then something snapped inside Kyuuto's mind, it was so mind blowing that he had to take a step back and sat down on Shin's bed, "That's it... I understand now... Shin 'abandoned his future' for me--- this is what he meant..." he then broke down and tears started to overflow in his eyes.
Kanata quickly sat beside Kyuuto and consoled him, "Hey, it's not your fault. You didn't know it would go down like this," she then held Kyuuto's cold hands, "we can still fix this, we-- I... believe in you," she then smiled sincerely.
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"I broke so many people's dreams... and the enemy was inside me all along, I don't know what to do next," Kyuuto finally expressed his frustration, "I might as well die---"
"Shhh!--" to her annoyance, Kanata shut Kyuuto's mouth with her hand, "don't say that again. Too many people want you to not be born at all, don't make it any worse. Look at me," she then held Kyuuto's face with both her hands, "if you say something like that again, you'll feel my Aurics to your face,"
Kyuuto blushed, then pulled his face back from Kanata's grasp, "Fine... thank you for cheering me up," he then looked at the mysterious girl's picture for the last time, now determined to also find her.
Rin broke their vibe with a strong knock on the door, "Are you guys done yet?" she asked jealously, "We should also investigate other rooms more closely,"
----
Following Rin's advice, Kyuuto ventured into Koori's room. He opened a drawer near his bed, and pulled out some drawings from it. He remembered the moment Koori hid them when he asked what those were. Koori was so secretive about his hobby, maybe even his dreams.
In the corner of said drawer, Kyuuto found Koori's diary. He hesitated at first because of obvious reasons, but he eventually reached the diary and opened the pages. The diary was not too different from his scribbles, there were a lot of drawings inside it, even more than words. Then Kyuuto was shocked out of his mind when he read it. Koori's diary was very different from Shin's, his words were like ramblings, with red markers on seemingly every page. It was full of hatred and resentment towards him, and how he could not do anything about it.
One of the pages reads:
Life is meaningless, *scribbles in red* This family is cursed from the beginning--- no, it all started when Kyuuto was born. Everything wasn't this bad back then *more scribbles* I can't do this anymore. This voice inside my head keeps telling me to go on with the plan, but I knew that would be terrible for everyone.
*a sketch of a shadowy figure with blue eyes blocks the next page*
They--- he--- wants *scribbles* to wake up again. This feels wrong-- we're supposed to defeat Yamisuke but--- Yusuke has his own goal--- *then more scribbles*
WE HAVE TO STOP HIM BEFORE--- *the page was ripped*
Kyuuto was taken aback reading those pages, and new revelations came into his head. He never thought about Yusuke and his role in this whole thing. Could it be that Yusuke has a different plan than his older brother? Was he essentially his right hand back then?
Was he planning to betray him?