Into the Metaverse

It was late when he got back to the Leblanc, but his mind was still buzzing.

So his Metaverse opponents were Shujin students—likely victims of Kamoshida. They were reckless—posting up those cards in their very own school, where there were probably only a small number of known victims, making them fairly easy to profile if the police ever got involved. But despite their recklessness they'd not go with the easy approach of killing their tormentor, instead taking the time and effort to work out how to brainwash him, and getting rid of him that way.

Now, that would suggest they had an aversion to killing, so they probably hadn't encountered the Metaverse before—nor would they be going on to cause any outright shutdowns or deaths if they could avoid it. Kind of a skewed sense of morals though. After all, wasn't being rewritten like that practically as good as death? Certainly someone like Kamoshida, a prolific predator with an ego big enough to give him a Palace, would never recover. He'd spend the rest of his days in confused, self-loathing misery. Most likely he'd commit suicide in prison as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Had these amateurs considered that? Maybe. But maybe not…

Ugh, he needed to find them.

But would they go on to do more? If they really had been victims, wouldn't dealing with Kamoshida be enough?

We'll most likely soon be informed.

Haruto hadn't felt the presence of the creature in a while, but… there was no telling when it might come back. For now, though, the Metaverse interlopers could be (hesitantly) moved to the back of his priorities, now he knew a bit more about them. Yusuke and Wakaba were far more pressing concerns.

Yusuke has agreed to meet him next Saturday, regardless, and he doubt he'll break his promise. 

And Wakaba… he'd deal with that on Friday.

Until then it was one day at a time.

For now.

***

Thusday 5th May

Another day came and went with Yusuke refusing to talk to him, and Haruto was beginning to think he might have gotten over it himself. It was now Thursday. That made four days of being ignored. Surely it couldn't be too much longer now?

As he strode into class that morning, he quickly spotted Yusuke staring at his desk in a now familiar stony silence… but something was wrong. He seemed to be… almost shaking? Haruto darted over to his desk, and was about to try and talk to him, when Mr. Murakami had to come in and ruin everything.

"Namikaze-kun, get into your seat, it's class time now," he called across the classroom, putting an end to any attempt to get more information about Yusuke.

Lunch… he had to talk to him at lunch.

***

When the morning's classes were over and they were free to go to lunch, Yusuke shot out of the classroom like a lightning bolt, clearly eager to get away. Haruto hated to disturb him when what he probably wanted most was solitude but… he needed to find out what was going on. He couldn't let this continue unchallenged much longer.

It took a while to find Yusuke, who had squirrelled himself away in an empty classroom on the third floor.

"Yusuke?" Haruto called from the doorway as he crept inside.

He heard a great shuddering sigh from where Yusuke was curled in on himself. Well, that all but confirmed it then.

"What do you want?" Yusuke called across the room, clearly trying hard to project his usual aura of haughty coldness, but being more than a little sabotaged by how much his voice was shaking. "Why do you keep bothering me?"

Haruto closed the door softly behind him, and walked over to where Yusuke was sitting.

"I'm worried about you," he said, once he was close enough for Yusuke to hear.

"That's no concern of mine," Yusuke sniffed, trying to hide his face in his knees.

"It is, " said Haruto, calmly. "You're my friend, after all."

"Well maybe you shouldn't be," he mumbled. "Nothing good will come of it. Nothing ever does."

"What makes you think that?"

Yusuke lifted his head in surprise, then narrowed his eyes. "What do mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said," said Haruto, leaning back on a table. "What makes you think nothing good will come of us being friends?"

Yusuke shook his head softly. "It's… not to do with you, it's… My life is… not mine to give away."

What on earth did that mean?

"You… think it belongs to someone else then?" asked Haruto. "And who might that be?"

Yusuke closed his eyes, refusing to look at him. "Haruto… you already know. Don't make me…"

"I want to hear you say it."

Yusuke let out a sharp breath.

"It's… it's—"

He cut himself off, shaking his head vigorously.

"Why am I doing this?" he whispered. "I have no reason to be upset. I agreed to this. So why…?"

Haruto watched him in silence. It was hard, watching him beginning to crumble like this, realisation finally sinking in, but Yusuke had to come to the answer himself. He had to be the one to say it.

Yusuke sat up suddenly, looking straight ahead, out of the window. "I'm so ungrateful," he whispered, almost to himself. "After everything he's done for me…"

"Who?" asked Haruto.

Yusuke exhaled shakily. He was so close now… if he could only force himself to say it, they'd almost be there…

"It's Madarame."

Finally. 

He couldn't let the opportunity go now he had it—now Yusuke was finally in the right state of mind to listen.

"What's he done?" asked Haruto, immediately pressing for answers.

Yusuke pursed his lips, raising his eyes to the window again. "It's really… nothing important."

"I'd like to know," said Haruto, sitting down next to him. "Seeing as it's worrying you so much."

Yusuke shook his head again. "I have no reason to be so upset, it's stupid, really, nothing unexpected."

Such low self-esteem. But he couldn't let Yusuke brush him off—not now.

"Maybe it'll help to get it off your chest?"

Yusuke finally turned to meet his gaze, his puffy, bloodshot eyes meeting Haruto's own. He looked so… achingly miserable.

"You don't have to say it if you don't want to," said Haruto-for all he wanted to help he couldn't risk destablising Yusuke any further. "I just want to help in any way I can."

Yusuke gave a melancholy smile. "I don't deserve your friendship, Haruto."

"I'll be the decider of that," said Haruto, smiling gently at him.

Yusuke sighed, before finally straightening up fully. It seemed he'd come to a decision.

"I know this sounds foolish," he said quietly, his voice still cracked from tears, "but if I tell you this—can you swear no other soul will know?"

"I can." That much, at least, was a promise he could keep.

Yusuke frowned, then licked his lips nervously. Haruto would have offered him water but in his rush to find him he'd left his own in the classroom.

"As part of my… living arrangement with Madarame," he began, "there are certain… terms I have to live with. A rent agreement of sorts."

He went silence, clearly not sure how to phrase whatever was coming next. Haruto remained silent. He was getting there, Haruto just had to wait.

"You see, for some time now, Sensei has been suffering with an… art block."

"Art block?" asked Haruto.

Yusuke nodded. "Like writer's block. He puts his paintbrush to canvas and cannot think of anything to paint whatsoever. So, we, his students… we…" He paused again, swallowing hard. Almost there. "We agree to give him our work… in exchange for his tutelage."

He'd suspected as much, but to hear it from Yusuke's own mouth… So he'd had his piece stolen by Madarame, but that had to have been happening for some time now, so why… Oh. God, that man really knew no shame, did he?

"Is that the work that will be on display in the gallery on Saturday?"

Yusuke frowned, his face contorted with obvious pain. "… Yes."

"Is your work there?"

"Yes."

Yusuke was trembling again. Haruto silently offered his hand, and Yusuke immediately grabbed it, squeezing it tight in his grip, still refusing to look Haruto in the eyes. It was like he was trying to cling to his sanity by his very fingertips, using Haruto as some sort of lifeline. It was fine. He could still do this—first of all, though…

"Do you… still want to go on Saturday?"

Yusuke let out a bark-like laugh-emotion exploding out as he tipped from misery to laughter. "Is that really…?" He turned to face Haruto, his eyes brimming with tears, though from the force of his laugh or from pure, soul-crushing sorrow Haruto couldn't tell. Maybe a strange mix of both. "You know, you're the strangest person I've ever met," he chuckled through tears. "Truly."

"I accept that," said Haruto, with a bemused shrug. He needed to project an air of calm as long as humanly possible. "Doesn't answer my question though."

Yusuke laughed again, still gripping Haruto's hand tight. "Yes. I want to go. I'll have to go anyway and… it'll be so much easier… if you're there."

Haruto smiled. "I'm happy to hear that."

Yusuke nodded-then, without warning-pulled Haruto into a tight hug.

"Thank you," he whispered, almost before Haruto had fully processed what was happening. "I don't know what I'd have done if…"

Haruto wrapped a tentative arm around him, rubbing his shoulder. "Don't think about that. There's no need."

Yusuke nodded. "Yes, I think you're right."

Then he slowly pulled away again, and Haruto let him disentangle himself, wiping away his tears.

"Ah, I'm sorry, Haruto," he said, forcing a smile again. "What must you think of me now? Putting you through all that?"

"I think you're very brave."

Yusuke's eyes widened. "Brave?"

"Yes," said Haruto, trying to smile but unable to entirely keep the melancholy out of it. "It must have taken a lot to tell me all that, especially when you were already so upset. I appreciate it."

Yusuke smiled, though he tried to turn away to hide it. "I… thank you, Haruto. I couldn't ask for a better friend."

Haruto grinned. "Come on, let's get something to eat. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

Yusuke laughed. "I hadn't even realised… it's still lunchtime!"

"Then let's go," said Haruto, taking him by the arm. "Futaba will kill me if I miss lunch again."

"Yes," said Yusuke, looking happier than Haruto had ever seen him before. "Let's go."

It was almost time now. Almost.

The only thing he hated about emotional confrontation, other than the entire… emotions… thing, was how bone-deep exhausted it made him. He went straight back to the Leblanc after school, having no energy to attempt anything else today, be it in real life or the Metaverse.

Sojiro greeted him as he came in.

"Oof, someone's had a rough day," he said, as Haruto approached the counter.

"No chance of a freebie?" he asked, looking mournfully at the coffee machine.

"While my customers are in here?" asked Sojiro, raising an eyebrow. "Do you think I'm crazy?"

"Fair," sighed Haruto, and he would have slumped off to head up to his room and get some much needed rest… had Sojiro not said what he had next.

"Huh… I think that kid goes to the school that was on the news the other day. You know, the one with the awful teacher?"

Haruto blinked a few times, trying to work out what on earth Sojiro was talking about—a kid? What kid? But a quick glance at the TV screen quickly explained his confusion.

There, staring blankly out of the screen, was Goro Akechi-teenage detective… and idol of hundreds of teenage girls everywhere. Haruto had been on the late-night shift at the café enough to get very used to the various inane talk shows airing on TV in the evening, and Akechi had been showing up pretty regularly on them since last year. Honestly it was a bit unnerving someone so young had managed to get into the police force at all, but he supposed there were obnoxious high-achievers everywhere. He hadn't realised the school he went to was Shujin Academy though…

"So Akechi-kun, how does it feel to have been instrumental in the arrest of such a dreadful man?" the newscaster was asking.

"Oh, you can't give me all the credit," said Akechi, smiling in a distinctly fake manner. "I would never have discovered him without the help of my fellow students."

"Ah yes, there were warning messages posted up on the school board, weren't there?"

"Oh, I didn't have anything to do with those," said Akechi. "I would only ever pursue the proper means to get criminals in jail—though of course I sympathise with the victims in our school."

The model answer—probably similar to the one Haruto himself would have given if anyone had asked him about any of his victims. Not that they ever did. He was only a high-school student, after all.

"How is you think he was able to go so long without being discovered, Akechi-kun? It surely doesn't speak well of the school faculty that they were ignorant of this for so long."

"I'm not sure it's fair to blame them for not spotting what was going on," said Akechi, quite plainly choosing his words very carefully. "Men like Kamoshida are excellent actors, after all. That's what enabled him to get away with it for so long."

"So you would assign no blame to your school itself?"

Akechi gave the most pained-looking smile Haruto had ever seen, and said, "No, not at all."

Seriously? The announcer was seeing this, right? Did the school principal have a gun pointed at him off-screen?

"Poor kid," said Sojiro, not helping matters. "I feel sorry for the school though, they're going to have a hell of a time of it for employing a monster like that, even with him defending them."

"Think it's really believable no one knew anything for that long?" asked Haruto.

"Not really," sighed Sojiro, shaking his head. "But I doubt anything will be done now the teacher's gone. That's the way the world works, I'm afraid."

Haruto rolled his eyes.

"Hey, what have I told you about that rebellious streak of yours?" asked Sojiro, sharply.

"That it has no place in the real world, and is in fact what got me arrested in the first place," droned Haruto.

"Exactly. Now get on upstairs if that's where you're going."

Haruto did as he was told, though he couldn't help sarcastically noting to himself that since most of his 'rebellious streak' was confined to the Metaverse, technically he was taking Sojiro's advice. Technically.

He dumped his bag on the table with a sigh, then fell back onto the couch.

Think that amateur celebrity could be one of the ones we need to worry about? asked Arsène.

"Doubt it," said Haruto, examining his fingernails. "He doesn't strike me as a victim. Or the type to keep the Metaverse to himself if he did discover it."

True. Still at square one then? 

"Still at square one," sighed Haruto.

But for now, square one of that investigation was about as far as he was willing to take things. After all, tomorrow was Friday, and then… then he'd have something real to worry about.