[Week 2, Friday: Eichi]

[doublecrows]

[soooo Akechi learned about the dead body from someone else, somewhere else]

[and as soon as he does, he is seeking out Eichi, his movements almost frantic]

Tenshouin-- Tenshouin. Where are you?

Comments

[finethanks]

[As always, Eichi stays in their room while waiting for the investigation to finish. He's too sick to be wandering around looking at dead bodies, or something like that— really, he's not interested in being the one to discover them. He's sure he'd have a heart attack.

He nearly does now, when he hears Akechi entering so quickly while he's ducked on the other side of the bed, shutting the drawer of their dresser shut.]

What? What is it, what did you find?

[doublecrows]

[Akechi would have stayed in bed throughout the course of the morning as well. for some reason, he can't imagine why, he just didn't feel like investigating]

[he scowls when he enters the room, expression twisted, brows furrowed. he presses a hand against his face, and shakes his head]

I found nothing.

[TRUTH. . .]

Someone else found Natsuo.

[no honorific. this time, it's just. . . Natsuo]

[finethanks]

[Time seems to stop. All over again, it's the image of Natsuo falling out of the door, bloodied and still. Eichi's eyes widen, and it's a miracle he stays standing, but after going through the shock once, this reality is... different, somehow.]

Natsuo-kun...?

[He says his name slowly.] What do you mean? [He knows, but he asks.] This must be some sort of a prank, or a cruel joke? Or he's gotten into something and is injured once again?

Is that what you mean? It's what you mean, isn't it?

[doublecrows]

[the panic on Eichi's features is so, so obvious. and if Akechi were a better person, a more socially aware person, he'd try to say something to comfort his partner. but he isn't, and so he shifts from one foot to the next, slightly awkward]

I asked that too. I insisted the person who told me was wrong, because no one would target Natsuo.

[and yet. . .]

But they weren't lying. It was Natsuo.

[finethanks]

No...

[Akechi is the only one who's going to see this reaction from Eichi, this time. He steps back, legs hitting the bed as he falls into a seat, hands lifting to hold his own head.]

No, no, no... That can't be. How could someone target Natsuo-kun? I thought... [He thought... Akechi, at the very least, and he'd made preparations, so why? The week he decides not to protect Natsuo any longer, that he has enough protection, why this?]

How?

[doublecrows]

[there's hesitation on Akechi's part, a moment where his back stiffens awkwardly as he nearly panics with what he should do]

[and then. . .]

[for once, he lets instinct guide his feet as he crosses the room to the bed. he sits down next to Eichi, hands folded in his lap, expression downcast]

I don't know.

[how is a very good question. an answer to which Akechi doesn't have, since he never saw the body]

. . .

But I have no intention of letting them get away with it.

[finethanks]

I should have done more. If I had protected him...

[But how could he protect him? It makes no sense right now, but the words just slip out. Eichi takes some comfort in Akechi next to him, but he's struggling to stay composed, face in his hands, trying not to cry.]

The trial... it's really all that we can do. This forced sense of justice.

[doublecrows]

[it's awkward, but Akechi rests his hand on Eichi's shoulder]

Don't think of it as justice. There is no justice in those trials.

Think of it as someone getting what they rightfully deserve.

[finethanks]

What they deserve... It almost feels too merciful, in this case. Isn't that strange?

[doublecrows]

No.

[not strange at all. because, in Akechi's mind. . . in the mind of someone willing to lie and kill for the sole purpose of exacting his perfect revenge on his father. . .]

I somehow suspect both of us are capable of far worse than the slap-on-the-wrist that is the Crafters' punishment.

[finethanks]

...You do have a point.

[Hmmm, he wants to make them suffer. There could be two, again, couldn't there? Were there two all along? Ahh, he really wonders.]

[doublecrows]

[a low chuckle]

Perhaps if we find the trial to be unsatisfactory, we should then take matters into our own hands.

[a dangerous suggestion. but for some reason, he thinks. . . it's okay for Eichi to hear this]