Chapter 25

The following morning all hell broke loose.

 

Someone had leaked a huge amount of the case to the press, who was going hog wild with it all. When he was younger he would have been excited about getting so much attention, but now, and with the reason being what it was, he hated it. His only saving grace was that the magazine who had bought the information from whoever leaked it seemed to have kept his phone number and address to themselves, and though they tried to reach him a lot, he knew it would have been much worse had they shared it with others.

 

He’d been woken up at four in the morning by a phone call, and groggily answered with a confused ‘hello’. The reporter on the other end wasted no time, introducing himself so fast Jun didn’t even catch what he said. The first clear thing he heard was “--and have you been in contact with your brothers yet? How did they respond to your accusations?”

 

Jun froze in the middle of getting out of bed, resulting in only one foot on the floor, the other still under him. For a moment he couldn’t get a word out. “I, what- excuse me?”

 

The reporter continued with no regard to his confusion, repeating what he’d said. “Have you talked to your brothers about your police report? How did they respond?”

 

Staring straight into the air, Jun hung up the call. When the same number called again he had to run straight to the bathroom.

 

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With a phone that was still going off every other minute, everyone in the apartment was now awake. They were gathered in the kitchen, Juudai and Misawa urging him to at least have some water. In the end, Misawa turned the phone off, the silence left behind when there was no more ringing deafening. 

 

Jun was pacing back and forth, until he almost tripped over his cat, and he sunk down into a chair,burying his face in his hands. “They’re gonna kill me. If this comes out on the news before we even get the case going properly, they’re gonna kill me for real this time. I’ll never be able to leave this apartment ever again.”

 

A hand was gently placed on his shoulder, making him jump. He looked into Juudai’s eyes as his boyfriend pulled him in for a hug. “We’ll protect you, don’t worry. We won’t let them do anything to you anymore.” Jun let out a shuddering breath, slumping against Juudai’s body. “I don’t want them to hurt any of you either…”

 

Misawa stood back up, putting his hand on Jun’s shoulder with a reassuring smile. “I’m going to make a few phone calls. We’ll figure something out.”

 

With a weak nod, Jun let himself get warmed by the embrace and the words of comfort as best as he could at the moment.

 

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Half an hour later, Jun realised he had to turn on his phone again in case he got any phone calls from the police. He was met by countless voice messages and texts from the reporter from earlier, but no immediate phone call. He took what little time he had before another call rolled in, and pressed on his lawyer’s contact. Three signals went through before a tired voice replied. “Watanabe Hiroko speaking.”

 

Relaying what had happened with a lump growing in his throat along with his anxiety, she hummed in understanding, now fully awake. “This is not the first time a thing like this has happened. Like it or not, this is a high profile case considering who your family is, so it's not surprising. I will contact the police department right away to see what we should do. If you need to keep your phone off, what number can I reach you at?”

 

Knowing that she was going to handle some of what was happening was a relief, and he fell back on the bed he’d been sitting on. Not hearing any sounds from the room, Misawa knocked on the door before entering, sitting down next to him. Juudai was already there, holding his hand and waiting patiently. The ex Ra-student sat down on his other side, waiting for Jun to speak.

 

Eventually, he did so. “She’s gonna talk to the cops. Apparently this happens sometimes when it’s about ‘high profile cases’. And my brothers are… very high profile.”

 

Misawa squeezed his hand, Jun turning it over so they could properly hold hands as well. “Then there’s some sort of procedure to this. It’s a terrible thing they’re doing, but at least the police will know somewhat what to do.”

 

Juudai lied down too, draping his arm over Jun’s chest. “We’ll just have to wait for her to call back for now. She’ll be calling my phone so you can turn yours off again if you need to.”

 

As if right on cue, his phone rang again, and after checking the number, Jun turned it off with a deep sigh.

 

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The first article went out at 5:57.

 

It was mostly a summary of the case, but it already showed that the news site knew way more than they should by the first paragraph. Soon, the media was all over it.

 

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No matter what channel he flipped to, he was face to face with the photo of his younger brother. Chousaku stared into the eyes of his baby brother, who he thought he had killed years ago. His eyes were torn from the screen of the TV by the sound of his front door opening, and after a minute Shoji stepped into the room, a dark look on his face. His phone was ringing, but after a look at it he dismissed the call, only for it to ring again.

 

Having already turned his own phone off, Chousaku watched Shoji do the same, his slightly younger brother sitting down in the armchair next to him, shoving the phone into his suit pocket. “We need to do something about that,” Shoji said, gesturing toward the big flatscreen mounted on the wall above the fireplace. Chousaku paused the news broadcast, staring at the photo of his youngest brother’s scarred chest. A knot weighed heavy in his stomach, a sour taste on his tongue.

 

“What do you suggest? The police will be here within days to arrest us at this point.”

 

Groaning, Shoji looked over at his older brother. “Don’t be such a coward. We have no choice but to finish the job. He needs to be put down, for good this time. We’ll make him disappear.”

 

Dragging a hand over his mouth, Chousaku couldn’t help but feel like running away from this whole situation. Being faced by what they had done to Jun so blatantly was a punch in the face. He’d felt guilty because of it ever since, but Shoji assured him it had been the right thing to do.

 

“You’re saying it like he’s just some rabid dog…” 

 

“Stop having second thoughts now. You’re just as guilty as I am. If you don’t want to go to jail for the rest of your life, you better get your shit together.” Shoji pulled out his second phone, that had contact information to their less savoury business partners. “I’ll make a plan. Just make sure to keep yourself together when I call you next time.”

 

With that, he strode out of the room, leaving Chousaku to stare at the tv in silence.

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