Chapter 22

He felt good for a total of four days before it came crumbling down.

 

Him and Asuka were in their third meeting with the lawyer, Watanabe, when she told them that they needed to file the police report and start the actual proceedings that would take them to court. It made Jun feel sick, and he had to excuse himself to go to the bathroom, making it just in time.

 

They took a short break so he could rinse his mouth and calm himself down, but when they went back to the meeting he was still shaking like a leaf. Asuka took his hand and he gripped it so tightly he would have to apologise for it later. His mouth felt bone dry and he couldn’t concentrate on the situation at hand. Thankfully Asuka was there for him and handled most of it, his mouth locked and unable to make a sound until the meeting ended. He could only nod or shake his head to show if he agreed or disagreed, and it ended with the lawyer letting them know she’d bring all the needed documentation with her the next time they met in a few days.

 

After she left, Asuka guided him to the couch and had him lie down. She guided him through breathing techniques while he tried not to panic, his hand in hers, tears rolling down his cheeks. It took him an entire hour to compose himself enough to have a coherent conversation. Luckily Asuka seemed to have realised the meetings might take a toll on him and she didn’t have any others until later, so she stayed with him the whole time.

 

Three days. In three days, directly after the weekend, they’d fill in everything they needed to file an official report. He got it, he really did, Watanabe was a professional and she couldn’t drag things out too much when she eventually had to go back to her proper employer. She was just doing her job efficiently. Still, it didn’t make him feel any better, knowing that soon he’d be able to literally count the days until his brothers would find out he was alive.

 

He stared into the ceiling, counting the tiles while he took as deep breaths as he could. His mind was spinning.

 

He looked down to where Asuka was still holding his hand, thumb running across the back of his hand. At least he wouldn’t have to go through this alone.

 

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In the two weeks he’d been living with Misawa, he’d really started to consider the apartment home. He liked having Misawa as a roommate quite a lot, to his own surprise. He never really talked much with him in high school, so when he originally moved in he’d been worried. But he was easy to get along with, and on top of that Cheeseburger really liked him too. So when he came back home, Asuka coming all the way up with him instead of dropping him off downstairs, Misawa, who was home at the moment (as he worked partially from home) came to greet them.

 

“Hey- oh, Jun, what happened?” He put down his tea mug to take over where Asuka had to leave and go back home. She gave each man a hug before leaving, mumbling a few words of reassurance to Jun that Misawa didn’t catch as she closed the door behind her.

 

Jun sat down on one of the armchairs in Misawa’s little reading nook, where Misawa had quite obviously been about to go, curling up in the seat with Cheeseburger hopping up into the remaining space on his lap. His friend brought him a mug of tea as well before sitting down in the other armchair, staying quiet to give Jun time to collect himself.

 

For a few minutes, the only sound was the cat’s purring and the occasional clink of a spoon against porcelain.

 

“My brothers will probably know that I’m not dead in a week.”

 

“Ah.” Misawa put his mug back down. “I get why that’d take a toll on you. But they don’t know where you live, and you look really different from back then. And even if they find you, we’ll make sure they can’t get to you. Like… guardian angels.

 

Jun let out a small laugh at that comparison. “You got those in the book you’re reading right now?”

 

“Yes, and they’re very powerful, so you know we’ll give it our all to keep you safe.”

 

“Nerd.” He chewed on his lip for a second before following it up with a ‘thank you’.

 

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Jun’s mental state took several steps backwards after that. Logically, he knew nothing had been filed yet, so they didn’t suspect a thing, but his nerves were frayed, and going outside made his whole body shake the further into the weekend they got.

 

So he stayed inside as much as possible, staring at the math equations Misawa left on his whiteboard. He’d always been good at math, but after one too many times of getting looked down on by his brother with his ‘you’re nothing compared to me, I work with math every day’ he’d started to hate it. No matter how many 100% he got on a math test, he was constantly criticised for some part in his calculations that could have looked smoother, told that he should do better (they didn’t care that he literally couldn’t do any better than 100%). So he got tired of it. He’d started avoiding it where he could. But here he was, living with a math nerd. That made him hate math a tiny bit less.

 

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Come monday Jun was a wreck.

 

Any sudden sound or movement made him flinch, and he left the apartment to go meet Asuka by her car with a sick feeling to his stomach. They were meeting with Watanabe in Asuka’s office as usual first thing in the morning to fill in some papers, then she would take them to the police station that had jurisdiction of the area where he’d been shot where he had to file the report himself. It was going to be a bit trickier since he didn’t have any sort of identification, but with the help of Pegasus’ lawyer, Watanabe had made sure that it would still be possible.

 

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The initial paperwork was dealt with way too fast and in what felt like the blink of an eye to Jun, they were on the way to the police station. Asuka sat with him in the back of Watanabe’s car while the woman drove, his friend holding his hand the entire trip. Once he could see the cliff he’d been thrown off years ago in the distance, he felt his throat close up and he had to force himself not to throw up or throw himself out of the damn car to get away from what was ahead of them.

 

Normally, people don’t find out that a report has been filed against them until a case has actually been opened, but knowing the shadiness of what his brothers were doing back then, knowing they’d probably gotten even more involved with the underbelly of the world, and the fact that they had some cops in their pockets, they had to work off of the assumption that they would find out within the next few days. And that’s why Jun was so terrified he was hyperventilating with his head between his knees, forcing Watanabe to pull up to the side of the road for a minute in case he did throw up. They were delayed for about twenty minutes before they had to continue.

 

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He couldn’t stop staring at the cliff. It was still barely visible from where they were parked once they reached the police station, and he just couldn't look away . The cliff had been part of numerous of his nightmares; had haunted him for years.

 

Asuka had to lead him into the building where he was finally able to stop staring.

 

The man at the front desk was friendly, but when he heard how long ago it happened he looked a bit sceptical. Jun could tell that he wondered why he’d come forward now and not earlier. He knew it was abnormal to report a crime so late, but the crime itself was still within the statute of limitations so he still led them into a room where they would get to talk to a detective. The reception might have gone worse had Watanabe not been there, what with her working for Pegasus and all, Jun wasn’t sure. He’d never really had anything to do with the police before.

 

The detective that came into the room introduced himself, ironically enough, as Tanaka. It was a common surname, sure, but it was a little bit funny that the detective he filed the report with had the same name he’d used as a fake one.

 

Tanaka was a serious, no nonsense man who went through the paperwork with no regard to Jun’s mental state. During the part of the initial report where he had to be alone with the man, he almost choked on his own tongue, feeling like it was swelling in his mouth. This wasn’t the first time he was telling someone about what happened, but this time was the one that counted, legality wise, for now at least, and his anxiety made itself well known. He stared down at his nails that were still shiny from when Fubuki had taken him and Ryo to the salon, scratching incessantly at the skin on the back of his hand until the flesh was rubbed raw.

 

The process was tedious and he had to struggle to keep himself together. He could see the detective found him very unimpressive; an almost 30 year old man isn’t supposed to cry in society’s eyes.

 

It ended after a few hours, answering questions and taking more pictures of his scarred body. It was uncomfortable, and he’d needed several breaks, but eventually he left the building with Asuka and Watanabe with him. The fresh air hit his face, and he felt like he was able to breathe properly for the first time since friday. 

 

He was still terrified, but it felt like an important step had been taken.

 

Now, everything was bound to change.

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