I was creeping after him. I lost once before, but I wasn't finished yet. I could still win! I didn't want to disappoint Aniki.

Not this time. Not again! 

 

I was slowly getting closer...

Closer!...

Even closer!...

Now I had him well within my sights. It looked like he hadn't noticed me, he was still facing the other way!

 

‘Perfect!' I thought, 'He won't dodge me this time!’, as I prepared to launch my attack...

 

'Now!' As soon as I was in position, I launched myself at the enemy.

 

*sasasa* Suddenly, the boy jumped to the side, almost as if he'd been expecting it. 

"NANI!!??" I yelled in shock, as my fist went flying past him. 

 

'I'm better prepared now. I should have been able to hit him! Why didn't I hit him?' I screamed internally. 

 

I wanted to try again, but before I could even turn back to face him, I saw a bright flash.

 

It was like the shutter of a camera, only brighter. Immediately after the flash I heard a loud *TATATATATAT*. 

 

Then it hit me.  

 

It instantly tore right through my body. Pierced through both flesh and bone.

 

It did so much damage, so quickly, that I felt I'd been hit by a speeding bullet train.

The impact alone knocked me back a few feet on my ass. 

 

‘Pain,Pain,Pain. Oh fuck, OH FUCK! SO MUCH PAIN’ 

I wanted to scream, but my teeth were clentched too tightly from the pain.

 

I'd been stabbed by a thousand tiny blades all across my upper body, hitting me in my chest, face and throat.

Before I even hit the floor, My eyes were swiss cheese. 

 

I tried to take a deep breath, I needed to calm myself down, so I could do something about it. Anything! 

 

I had to react, if I wanted to stay alive. 

!

 

Immediately, I realized that something was obstructing the airway in my throat! 

 

*COUGH* *WEESE* I coughed and gasped, hoping to clear it. 

As a result, a thick liquid trickled out from my throat and into my mouth. I could taste Iron on my tongue.

 

Instinctively, I knew that it was blood. My blood!

 

It didn't stop there, more and more kept spilling out and into my lungs, making it difficult to breathe.

 

It just kept coming, and coming! I felt like I was drowning.

No, actually I really was drowning, in my own blood!  

 

As I struggled to breathe, I felt my body slowly losing its strength. I felt the warmth of life leaving me. My mind became more and more hazy. 

 

I started feeling drowsy. I felt like my consciousness was being sucked into a void.

'Is this what dying feels like?' 

 

In order to try and stay conscious I started going over everything in my head. 

 

'How was I injured? It wasn't the boy. I've seen his ability, he can't do something like this. Can he? No!'

I dismissed this possibility and considered something else. 

'Wait, There were two other people in the room. But one was unconscious. So by process of elimination…no it can't be him! Can it?'

 

As I lay on the floor trying to stay conscious, I heard an angry voice cut through the darkness. "Okuyasu! Does your stupidity know no bounds? You even stood directly in my Line of fire!" He was scolding me! "I've told you countless times before, your Stand is strong, but with you as its master, it's fucking useless!"

 

I knew that voice quite well. It belonged to my brother, Keicho Nijimura. He usually always reprimanded me and scolded me like this. 

Though in my current state, it brought little comfort. 

 

After a brief pause it continued, now with noticeably less energy. "...and useless things are meant to be thrown away." 

 

'Ah. So It was him after all.'

Still, it didn't look like that was intentional. His words sounded harsh and ruthless, but the intent behind them wasn't. I could feel it, there was definitely more to it than that. There was some concern for me in there! There had to be!  

I could also hear resignation, sorrow and guilt in his tone. Was he angry at me? Or himself? 

 

I trusted my aniki, I knew he'd done many awful things and hurt many people, but he wasn't the type to coldly abandon his family.

 

We'd been together for so long, suffered through so many hardships, and through it all, he's always been there for me. He would protect me, guide me, Lead me! I'd follow him anywhere, and he’d never lead me astray. That was the nature of our relationship. How it always would be.

If it hadn't ended so prematurely. 

 

"Aniki…I-I'm…sorry" I gasped out In response, but that no longer held any meaning. Because this was the end.

 

Now, not even Aniki could save me. 

Not this time.

Never again...

 

I was overcome with despair as I realized that fact. 'Dammit! Once again, because of my own idiocy, I’ve become a burden to him!' I could only keep blaming myself. 'I lost the fight. I followed the boy into my brother's trap. I let myself get hurt!'

 

As I felt myself losing my grip on my consciousness, my doubts and regrets only grew more and more intense. 'Hasn't it always been like this? Haven't I always been just another burden to Aniki? Sure I tried to contribute in my own ways, but did it ever truly help?' I asked myself, in despair.

 

As I grew more and more depressed, a grim thought came to torment my already depressed psyche. 'Maybe...Just maybe…he'd be better off without me.'

 

Suddenly, something grabbed me by the shoulder and dragged me away. I knew by then, that it was over.

This was the Shinigami collecting my soul. He was pulling me into the afterlife. Whether I wanted it or not didn't matter anymore.

 

'Soon I'll reach the other side. '

 

With this in mind, I tried to keep myself optimistic. 'Maybe I'll see mom again, wouldn't that be nice? First, I'd have to apologize for a lot of things. I don't know if she'd like the person I've become now, but I hope she'll forgive me.'

 

I started mentally preparing myself to meet my late mother, but something interrupted me.

 

I saw a bright light, and countless images appeared inside my head. ‘Ah right, this is supposed to happen when someone's about to die.’ I reasoned. This was my life flashing before my eyes.

 

I remembered the early days. I had loving parents, a supportive older brother, and what seemed like a bright future ahead of me. 

At least…that's how it should have been. It all only really lasted until I turned 5 years old. After that, things fell apart.  

 

We lost our parents, Aniki had to grow up way before his time. He had to fight to build a future for us, and he had to do it all, while raising me.

 

Over the years, He became more and more strict in his handling of our household affairs. He was very decisive and domineering in his leadership after all, He took quite a bit of inspiration from the military.

 

In our house, He was the commander and I was his subordinate. Anything he ordered I would do. And I'd do so, without question. 

It might seem strange, but that was the easiest part for me. I didn't have to think. I could just do. 

This of course, really suited me, after all, I was an idiot. 

 

Because we lived in poverty. We became thugs, lowlifes and bullies.

 

But we had to be, how else could we even survive? Who could we rely on? Only each other...