~ Third Person Pov ~
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"I-I..." Cat stammered, "I only met the b-boss o-once! GURGH!!!" He coughed out, his neck being squeezed further.
Ayano's glare flared up, "Did you know about them? HUH!!?" He asked, loosening his grip.
Cat instantly realized who he was talking about, "It... It was already too late... And saying anything, meant that my fucking life would've been taken as a result!"
Cat was still on the ground, wheezing like someone who hadn't remembered how to breathe until just now. His voice came out raw, stripped of whatever pathetic front he'd tried to keep earlier.
"I wanted to say something…" He muttered. "The last time I saw them all—I... I wanted to speak up. But…"
He looked up at Ayano, the dim alley light catching the blue in his eyes...
"…I was fuckin' scared, man! Plus, you wouldn't get it either... That guy, the boss—he's wasn't someone you can just talk back to or correct! Breathe wrong near him, and you're just… gone."
Ayano's gaze didn't soften. If anything, the silence he offered now was much colder.
However Cat continued, much quieter this time...
"He was, stronger than me... Way stronger. And worse, I could tell he was the type that liked making examples. If I said anything then, even hinted that I noticed something was off and called him out on it… I wouldn't just be next. I'd be dead."
He choked down the emotion creeping up his throat. "But I still should've done something. Anything. I still see their faces, you know? Every fucking night."
He turned his eyes back to Ayano, voice breaking. "If I could go back… I'd change it all. I swearI would. I'd at least do something this time…" he trailed off.
Ayano hated every second of this... But, even he knew what cat had said was normal. Cat didn't have the strength to take on someone like the boss he fought some time ago. Most guys would run away from something that looked strong and had the power to back it up, that was just how humans worked, but even this didn't entirely excuse his behavior.
…
At first, Ayano didn't speak a word. Not right away... His expression was unreadable now — not angry, not calm. Just, distant.
And then finally, he said:
"You don't get that damn luxury."
Cat flinched.
Ayano turned his head slightly, just enough to speak without looking at him. "There's no 'next time.' No going back. No apology that evens this out."
He stepped forward, slow and quiet. For a second, Cat flinched like he expected another hit. But Ayano just kept walking, past him.
"…If you want to live with that, then fine." he muttered. "But don't pretend that your regret makes you brave."
Ayano was already beyond irate at this point; "Why the hell did you even try to find me? Huh?" He asked.
Cat looked down. "Because... You're strong. I need that kind of strength..."
Not all at once, but like something inside of him pulled back hard on the reins. One foot planted mid-stride, his shoulders stiff, the breath in his lungs suddenly feeling heavier than it should've.
He didn't turn around.
"The hell does that mean?" he asked, voice low.
Cat swallowed hard, still kneeling where he'd collapsed, both hands gripping the pavement like they were the only things anchoring him to this moment...
"I don't mean strong like muscles or fighting, at least not just that..." he said, quieter now. "I meant the kind that lets you look other people in the eye, even when they hate you. The kind that doesn't flinch when things are about go to shit."
He lifted his head, face streaked with shame, but gaze sincere. "You did something when I couldn't... You acted. I know you were the one that saved them... And yeah, maybe it was too late for some things, but… You didn't sit on your hands. You didn't look away, you fought and you won.."
Ayano perked up at what he had said... "How do you know?"
"Ho-How do I know what?" Cat answered.
"How the helldid you find out that I saved them...?" He asked, curious. However, Cat's eyes widened before quickly returning to normal.
"I... I heard it on the news... Apparently, one of the women who were rescued, barely saw the person who even rescued them all... The most defining thing on that person was their eyes. She... She said that they were blue." Cat said, pausing for a second before slowly running his hand on his throat...
"Then, it came to me; the only person who I fought that was strong, and with blue eyes, was you. And you were the only person actively looking for me... and the, you know who..." He finished.
Ayano hearing this, still didn't face him. His silence wasn't permission—it was just pure judgment. The worst kind.
"Still… I-I don't want to be a coward anymore." Cat quickly added. "I want to stop running from this, and atone for the shit I've done and caused. But, I can't do it alone."
A long, quiet moment passed between both of them...
Ayano then closed his eyes, and sighed. "You... came to the wrong person." He said, barely audible. "If you're looking for some kind of paragon and trainer, I'm not it."
He began walking again, no hesitation this time.
"I'm just... Someone who was unfortunate enough to show up late, got angry and then did something about it. Nothin' more." Ayano said, walking off...
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Cat remained on his knees, staring at the ground long after Ayano's footsteps faded into the distance. His hands curled slowly into fists, the cool grit of the pavement grinding into his palms.
"I, know..." he whispered to no one.
"I know you're not a hero." His voice cracked around the edges, swallowed by the alley's silence.
"But at least ya' did what I couldn't." He clenched his fists...
And that... That was enough.
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Meanwhile, Ayano didn't stop walking. Not even for the deep chill working its way up his spine. His mind kept returning to that one phrase:
"I want to stop running from this."
There was something about those words that stuck harder than he wanted them to. It wasn't guilt. Not exactly...
It was the unfairness of it. That a guy like Cat — strong yet, cowardly, and too late — might actually want to do better now, only because someone else had already borne the consequences he essentially couldn't bare to even face.
Ayano then shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. 'I guess... You don't get to pick the weight you carry after it's already crushed by someone else.'
Still, that didn't mean Ayano could pretend he was unaffected by it, because it was the complete opposite. Maybe he hated Cat for what he didn't do...
But a small part of him — a part he didn't want to admit existed — almost envied the simplicity of his guilt. Because he didn't get to walk away with a clean conscience either.
Not after what happened back then. Not after what he letting himself become since it happened...
"Tch-"
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Ayano Looked ahead to see his home in the distance... Now, he was remembering the discussion both he and Yukari had prior to leaving. He sighed just thinking about it.
'I can't just let her leave either... She's barely even been here.' I felt like a hypocrite since I mentioned that she should go, and prior to that, stay...
The closer he got to the house, the quieter the world seemed to become. The gravel under his shoes crunched in rhythm, but it didn't ground him. If anything, it just reminded him how present everything still was. The two confessions. The regret. The desperation. The way Cat's fingers clutched the pavement like it was something sacred — like he'd only just learned how to beg properly.
Ayano didn't know if he pitied him or hated him. Perhaps it was both, and maybe that's what unsettled him most.
And now, just ahead... was her. Yukari. Still inside. Maybe sitting in silence, or maybe she was gone already, packed up and disappeared from his world as quietly as she'd entered it. He wouldn't have blamed her for it...
It's just that he'd be a little lonely again.
He reached the door, and hesitated. His hand hovered above the knob.
'I told her to leave, well implied... But, I hadn't meant it.'
He pressed his thumb against the frame. 'But I couldn't let her stay either. Not when I'm like this. Not when I've got blood on my hands, even if no one sees it.'
Click.
He stepped inside.
The house was quiet. No voices, no kitchen clatter. Just the ambient hush of a place waiting to be filled.
He kicked off his shoes with a little more force than he needed to, then paused in the doorway.
"…Yukari?" he called out gently.
A soft sound came from the other room — not footsteps exactly, more like fabric brushing against itself. A shift in weight. She hadn't left.
Relief hit him, brief and sharp, and then it was gone.
When he turned the corner into the living room, he found her exactly where he expected her to be: sitting on the edge of the couch, hands loosely folded, eyes trained on the floor.
She didn't look all that surprised to see him.
If anything, she looked... oddly, ready.
"I figured you'd come back," she said. Her voice wasn't cold — but it wasn't warm either. It just was. Like a held breath. Like a card placed face-down on a table.
Ayano stood there for a second, then nodded slowly. "I figured... I don't know. That I owed you that much."
"Well. You owe me nothing." she replied, looking up now.
Her face was unreadable. Still calm. Still composed. But there was that slight tension at the corner of her mouth — the kind that shows up when someone's holding back a response they know won't change anything.
"I didn't leave because I wanted to..." He said. "I, spoke with someone at first, and then someone else had found me on the way back, then we talked..."
Yukari didn't ask who. Didn't pry.
She only said, "I see..."
That surprised him. He exhaled through his nose, stepped forward.
"You're... still here."
"I wasn't sure if I should be."
"I wasn't sure either..." Ayano admitted. His voice was rougher than before — not from emotion, but fatigue. Emotional whiplash. Too many people laying their truths bare to him in one day, and all of them expecting nothing in return — or worse, something he didn't know how to give.
He ran a hand through his hair and finally sat down across from her, elbows on his knees.
Yukari tilted her head slightly, watching him. "Do... you want me to leave, now?"
Ayano didn't look at her right away, it was still in the evening and her workers were still here... He stared at the floor between them, eyes half-lidded.
"...No." he said eventually. "Not unless you want to."
She didn't answer. Not right away.
Then softly, she shook her head. "No... I'm tired of running from things just because they're complicated."
A faint smirk touched the corner of Ayano's mouth. "Well..." He said looking at through the window.
"I suppose, that makes two of us, huh...?"
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END