#bokumachi
Yashiro totally set him up to do this
Notes:Hello everyone! I apologize for the inactivity. I’m trying my best to finish up the new Chapter of The Tiger Tamer but, while I was at it, I couldn’t help but feel the want to make a short OneShot of Erased, since I’m really hooked up with it these days. I hope you guys can understand. I tried my best doing this, though I don’t really know if it was nicely done, since I’m kind of new to the world of Erased, at least in the writing part. Even so, I hope you guys can enjoy reading it. Here goes!
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His hands were holding me tight. I closed my eyes in fear. This place, it was a nightmare to me. The one holding me, carrying me, was the very same person who had left me to die deep in the blueness of the river. He, too, had been the one to save me. Or, at least, my head thought of it that way and it had merged that thought deep into the others.
The warmth that emanated from him was odd. It was very gentle but it was starting to burn me up. Was he having a fever? Did the cold snow cause his body to respond in this very strange way? Was he alright like this? I was starting to worry about him. My eyes, which were still closed up, decided to open, just a bit. They met with his chest, precisely, a red tie he had on and the blackness of his clothes. I could smell his particular scent, a mix of candy and darkness, as weird as that may sound. My hands were shivering as they held his clothes tightly. Why was I clinging so much? Was I really that scared? Was I having faith in the very same person that had tried to kill me right here? I was pretty dumb, and still am, it seems, as I was almost sure that I was starting to trust him once more.
“Doesn’t matter how many times I try… you will always end up living, won’t you?” he seemed to be asking me. Yashiro’s voice came out quietly, calmly. I didn’t dare to look at his eyes. Surely, they were glancing at mines. I tried my best to remain calm, my heartbeat starting to waver, beating irregularly.
“Can we… go back?” I asked, avoiding his question, his thoughts. I tried erasing them. His head moved to the side. I could smell water as he continued onward. Snow fell, it continued on, just like his heat and the fear inside of me. The car was far away from us. That was the only thing that gave me a slight sense of relief.
“It was cold. I remember it well. That feeling, the coldness, it lingered for fifteen years. The years I waited for you to finally open your eyes and speak to me. It was, as you said, excruciatingly slow. I thought you’d never want to see me again, too. And, look at you, following my trail, staying close to me, leaving everyone else behind as they did with you. You are here with me, back at the place where it all should’ve ended. Back to ‘Game Over’. Satoru, you are following me, the Death Reaper, your Death Reaper.” He paused and smiled, my eyes slowly trying to see his face. “You… You, too, can’t live without me. I am your reason for living now.” I tried negating what he had just said to me, my mouth opening to soon be blocked by a tight hand covered in a black glove. “No, there’s no need for you to say anything.” It seemed like an incomplete sentence to me but, to him, it was all he needed to say. His tight hands started to grow weak as he rocked me back and then strongly forth and my body, almost in an instant, fell into the coldness of the river that once tried taking me away to its profound bed.
Density was betraying me again.
The water embraced me and I tried pulling away from it, as I did, I caught a glimpse of Yashiro. His eyes were a deep red as he stood there, watching me struggle. He didn’t move an inch, only his hair was motioning with the cold wind of the outside. Water. It was water once more. Did I know how to swim before? My hands tried their very best to push the water away from me, but this only made it come closer and closer. I tried screaming and the water seeped into my mouth, making me choke and cough. The sound was incredibly loud, that’s what he must’ve thought. I, on the other hand, couldn’t think of anything else but the fear of losing the grip of life I had obtained.
He was the culprit. This time, he had been the one to throw me into the depths of that accursed river. He had done so before too, but, now, I felt his intent to kill awfully closer. That heat, it probably was anger, maybe even thrill, joy. I started doubting how much I knew about him. Wouldn’t he come here to save me? And, right there, I felt him again. Once I was starting to lose the strength to try and fight back the liquid surrounding me, he held me as tightly as before and pulled me up, back into the cold snow. I tried breathing but couldn’t even move my lips, though they were shaking due to the coldness they were trying to withstand along with my whole body.
He took a deep breath and transported all of it towards me. This went on for several minutes until I coughed and threw up the water I had swallowed. Immediately after, the strength that took to do that faded and I fell, but his hands were there to meet my back, pulling me back towards his chest again. That very moment made me feel safe. It is strange, I know, but I couldn’t help but feel that sensation. My lips formed a weak smile as my eyes tried glancing at him. He was looking at me, a serious gaze, no trace of intent to kill, no redness, no culprit. There was only Yashiro and his want to have me close. The want to save me. That very moment made me feel as if he were a hero. As if I had been saved by him. Once he saw me smiling, his seriousness turned into a gentle smile, only looking at me. He took my weak body up again and started to walk away back to the car. This made me restless and I groaned a bit, trying to speak. He placed his fingers right on my shaking lips and shook his head slowly.
Inside the car, he placed me on the back seats, treating my body with utmost care and making sure I was comfortable, as if I was going to sleep there. He then went back to the front, driving back home.
“Doesn’t matter how many times I try… you will always end up living.” This time, he made it a statement. I could only look at his face while he drove around. The city lights illuminated both my face and his in vibrant colors. The heater helped me feel way better, even if my clothes were drenched in cold water. My hands still shivered, but surely it was due to the horrible experience, which made me relive the past.
“Yashiro… your head works in a way most people wouldn’t comprehend… I believe I understand you.”
“But, of course you do, Satoru. You’re the only one in this world that knows the real me. And it will always stay that way. Only you can understand me.”
Ah, so I said that out loud.
Yashiro followed what I said. He believed in it. He repeated my words. They were almost some sort of religion to him. The words that we shared close to the sky, they connected us. In between those words, he could see, and I could too, that we both understood each other, in many ways. He wasn’t the only one being exposed. With those words, I exposed myself. I gave him the chance to see far beyond what I showed. He took those words and found the hidden and literal meaning behind them. Him and I… both Sensei and me… with only those words, we truly got to know more about us than anyone else.
In this world, in this town where time continues with or without us, him and I, we can’t continue without each other. A town where only I am missing is a town where only he is missing too.
~
Notes: And that’s all! Thank you so much for taking your time to read! Appreciation is always appreciated! I hope I can keep on improving with this, both writing and writing about Erased, and also, keep up with The Tiger Tamer, which I don’t want to quit at all until I’m done. Thank you, once more! Have a great day!
Your writing is colorful, but straightforward and focus. I love it.
