The bedroom door slowly opened in the dead silence.
The moment time resumed its flow, suppressed grief, indignation, and fear erupted like a flood breaking a dam. Hachiman Hikigaya's eyes were bloodshot, looking like a dying beast as he let out a heart-wrenching roar:
"Kanjuro! You beast! You demon! What did you do to my mom?! Let her go!!"
Komachi Hikigaya slumped on the floor. Looking at Kanjuro walking out of the bedroom, the immense fear made even her crying intermittent, leaving only helpless sobs.
However, in the next second, the siblings' voices stopped abruptly as if cut by a sharp blade. Their pupils contracted violently as they looked in disbelief at their mother, who followed closely behind Kanjuro.
Mrs. Hikitani... no, perhaps she should be called by a new perception now. Her face was glowing with an almost girlish blush of shyness and satisfaction. Her eyes were clear and dependent, completely devoid of her usual maturity and the terror she had just experienced. She intimately held Kanjuro's arm, her body leaning slightly against him as if he were her entire support and the light of her world.
What hit Hachiman and Komachi like a lightning bolt were the words she spoke. Her voice was gentle, yet it carried a sense of strangeness that cast them into an ice cellar:
"Hachiman, Komachi? What's wrong with you? Why is your tone so unpleasant when seeing Papa...?" She frowned slightly, with a hint of confusion and reproach, looking at her two children as if they were the ones acting abnormally. "Papa worked hard and came home; you should be happy."
"Pa... pa...?" Hachiman Hikigaya's voice was as dry as sandpaper. He looked at Kanjuro's young, handsome face with its playful smile, then at his mother's eyes filled with total trust and even adoration, and then thought of his father's head on the shoe cabinet with eyes that wouldn't close... An extreme sense of absurdity and nausea surged up his throat, making him almost want to vomit.
Komachi Hikigaya was also completely dazed, her brain a total blank. She just stared blankly at her mother and then at Kanjuro. Her small worldview was completely crushed at this moment. Mom... is calling Brother Kanjuro... Papa?
Kanjuro enjoyed this distorted scene. He gently patted the back of Mrs. Hikitani's (now his "wife's") hand, his tone sickeningly gentle: "Don't be angry. Maybe the children are in a bad mood today, or... they saw something unclean and had hallucinations." His gaze pointedly swept toward the entryway.
Mrs. Hikitani immediately nodded in conviction, looking at her children with concern: "Is that so? Hachiman, Komachi, are you too tired from studying? Do you want to drink some milk Mom just warmed up?"
"Hallucinations...? Something unclean...?" Hachiman Hikigaya looked at his mother's completely deluded appearance and at Kanjuro's mocking, victor-like gaze. A despair mixed with towering rage, boundless fear, and immense grief completely submerged him. He understood. Kanjuro had not only taken his father's life and possessed his mother's body with the filthiest means, but he had also used that demonic power to fundamentally tamper with and defile his mother's perception and memory!
His mother was no longer his mother. She had become a meticulously modified puppet wife in Kanjuro's hands, instilled with false memories!
And they, Hachiman Hikigaya and Komachi Hikigaya, had become the only outsiders in this forcibly distorted "family," clearly watching this human tragedy but unable to change anything.
Kanjuro held his "wife" close, like the true male master of this house, smiling at the completely broken Hikigaya siblings.
"It seems the children need a little time... to adapt to the new family atmosphere," he said lightly. Every word was like a poison-dipped ice pick, stabbing ruthlessly into the siblings' hearts.
The cruelty of the game far exceeded their worst imaginations. This was not just the theft of life, but the defilement of the soul and the complete trampling of ethics.
Komachi Hikigaya watched her mother leaning in Kanjuro's arms and heard that natural "Papa." Her brain felt like it had been thrown into a blender, a total chaos. Some powerful, external force was forcibly overwriting her perception, a voice screaming in her mind: He is Papa, he is family, respect him, love him... But deep in her heart, another weak, blood-scented memory fragment was struggling frantically—the splattered blood in the entryway, her father's terrified frozen expression, and the demonic figure of Kanjuro walking in with the head...
"Kanjuro... Papa..." Komachi Hikigaya unconsciously followed her mother in uttering that address, but she immediately clutched her head and crouched down in agony, her voice carrying a sob and intense self-doubt, "No! No!! I shouldn't call you that!! You're not... You're not!!"
On the other side, Hachiman Hikigaya's condition was even more intense. His eyes were blood-red, staring fixedly at Kanjuro, his teeth grinding together. His curses sounded like the roars of a wounded beast: "Kanjuro! You bastard! Devil! You killed my father! You did that to my mother...! I will never acknowledge you! Never!!"
However, that invisible power of Authority was also eroding him. 'He is your father, he raised you, you must be obedient...' This forged 'memory' was like a maggot in the bone, attempting to burrow into the depths of his consciousness.
"Father? No... You are not my father!!" Hachiman Hikigaya pounded his forehead forcefully, trying to use pain to dispel that eerie cognition. His gaze involuntarily flickered toward the forgotten (deliberately blurred by the Authority) head of his biological father on the entryway shoe cabinet. That momentary flash of clarity almost made him collapse.
Kanjuro looked at the pair of siblings struggling painfully between truth and falsehood. A helpless expression of near-pity appeared on his face as he sighed softly, his voice still terrifyingly gentle:
"Sigh, why are children still so rebellious and disobedient when they see their father? It's truly saddening."
Following his words, the Space-Time Authority originating from the [gospel of luke] once again intensified the distortion of their cognition.
Komachi Hikigaya's struggle weakened significantly, her eyes becoming somewhat dazed. As she looked at Kanjuro, her resistance was decreasing, and a forced, twisted sense of closeness was germinating. However, the tear stains in the corners of her eyes and the indelible painful memories kept her in an extremely contradictory state.
Kanjuro no longer paid attention to Hachiman Hikigaya, who was still roaring, though his roars had taken on a hint of uncertainty and confusion. He walked gently to the shivering Komachi crouching on the floor, bent down, and without a word, picked up her petite body.
"Ah!" Komachi let out a short cry of surprise, her body stiffening as she was held in Kanjuro's arms. She looked up at Kanjuro's handsome yet devilish face close at hand, her eyes brimming with tears. Her voice carried a desperate sob: "Is... Is this your so-called game? Kanjuro... Brother... No... Papa...? This is too cruel... It's really too cruel..."
She was incoherent; the confusion in her cognition made it impossible for her to even settle on an address. But the pain of being toyed with, being forced, and witnessing her family's tragedy without being able to resist was so real and sharp.
"Hachiman! Save me!!" Finally unable to help herself, she sent a weak plea for help toward her brother.
This cry was like the final fuse, igniting Hachiman Hikigaya's last remaining shred of sanity. He let out a roar like a mad bull and charged recklessly at Kanjuro, his fist smashing hard toward Kanjuro's back!
"Let go of my sister! You monster!!"
However, his attack appeared laughable before Kanjuro.
Kanjuro didn't even turn around; he simply raised his foot casually and kicked backward!
Thump!
Hachiman Hikigaya felt an irresistible, immense force slam into his abdomen. He flew backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily against the living room wall before sliding to the floor, curling his body and groaning in pain. For a moment, even breathing became difficult.
Holding the trembling Komachi in his arms, Kanjuro slowly turned around and looked down at the struggling Hachiman Hikigaya on the floor, his gaze as cold as if looking at a bothersome insect.
"Trash." He spat out two words contemptuously. "Just stay there and listen well, watch well. Watch how your 'family' is reunited."
Having said that, he no longer paid attention to Hachiman Hikigaya, who was on the verge of fainting. With one arm he held the vacant-eyed, cognitively confused Komachi Hikigaya, and with the other, he embraced Mrs. Hikitani, who now viewed him entirely as her husband, her eyes filled only with dependence and docility.
He took his "wife" and "daughter," like a triumphant king, and stepped toward that bedroom once again.
The bedroom door slowly closed once more in Hachiman Hikigaya's desperate and blurred vision.
It shut out his roars, shut out Komachi's faint weeping, and seemed to... completely shut out the last remaining light and hope of this family.
Only endless darkness remained, along with the ethics and familial bonds twisted and shattered under the Authority, wailing silently in this deathly quiet house.
Hachiman Hikigaya was like a man possessed, pounding on the closed bedroom door with all his might. His fists hit the solid wood with dull "thud, thud" sounds. His knuckles quickly turned red and even bled, but he felt no pain—only boundless rage and fear burning through his internal organs.
"Open the door! Kanjuro! You animal! Let them go! Let my mother and Komachi go!!"
He screamed, his voice already hoarse beyond repair.
However, the door remained motionless, as if it were not a wooden door but a wall of sighs separating two worlds. His roars and pounding were like stones thrown into the deep sea, receiving no response. Instead, they made the sounds faintly coming from inside the room seem even clearer and more piercing.
At first, there were some vague, deliberately lowered conversations, but soon, the sounds became uncontrollable.
"Brother... Don't listen!! Please... Don't listen!! Don't look...!!"
These words were like the sharpest ice pick, stabbing hard into Hachiman Hikigaya's heart. They were more lethal than any direct curse or cry. Komachi still had a shred of clarity; she knew he was outside, she knew what he was enduring, and this reminder instead became the most cruel torture for him.
He listened.
He could only listen.
He didn't know how much time had passed—maybe a century, maybe just a brief moment. That bedroom door, which separated hell from the human world (if this ruined living room could still be called that), finally opened slowly once again.
Hachiman Hikigaya sat slumped on the sofa like a shell with its soul extracted, staring vacantly at the ceiling. His face was covered in dried tear tracks and a near-numb despair. His hands, which had been pounding the door, hung limply at his sides, his knuckles a bloody mess.
Footsteps approached.
Kanjuro walked out first. He adjusted his slightly open collar, a hint of lazy, post-satiation satisfaction on his face. His expression remained that detestable look of calm and gentleness.
Following behind him was Mrs. Hikitani. The flush on her cheeks had not yet faded, and her eyes were misty, as if immersed in a beautiful dream. Her hands tightly clutched Kanjuro's arm as if it were her only lifeline. When she saw Hachiman Hikigaya slumped on the sofa, a flash of clear, undisguised disgust and coldness crossed those originally gentle eyes.
Last to walk out was Komachi Hikigaya.
Her steps were somewhat unsteady. She kept her head low, her long hair falling to cover most of her face. Her originally vibrant school uniform now appeared crumpled. She didn't dare look at her brother on the sofa, her hands tightly clutching the hem of her clothes, her knuckles white from the force. She was enveloped in a sadness, shame, and... a certain twisted obedience that had been forcibly branded upon her, so thick it wouldn't dissipate.
"Mom..." Hachiman Hikigaya heard his own dry, raspy voice, sounding like a worn-out bellows. He looked up, using his last bit of strength to gaze at the woman who had once given him infinite warmth and protection. His eyes held a hint of humble, near-instinctive pleading—pleading to see even a shred of past tenderness in her eyes.
However, Mrs. Hikitani only gave him a cold glance, her gaze like she was looking at a filthy, eyesore of a stranger. She even frowned slightly, as if his very existence was an offense. Then, she turned to Kanjuro, her voice delicate and soft, yet her tone lightly spat out the words that completely crushed Hachiman Hikigaya's last shred of humanity:
"Husband..." She leaned against Kanjuro, but her gaze swept over Hachiman Hikigaya like a cold blade. "This child... seems so unpleasant, always looking at us with those disgusting eyes. Why don't we... kill him? Just to save us the eyesore and to keep him from making you angry again."
"..."
Time seemed to freeze completely at this moment.
Hachiman Hikigaya's mouth was open, but he couldn't make a sound. He felt his heart being gripped hard by an invisible hand at that moment and then crushed to powder. His blood seemed to flow backward, freezing every bone in his body.
Kill him?
From the mouth of his biological mother, in a casual tone as if discussing a dinner menu, she said "kill him"?
An extreme sense of absurdity submerged him like a tsunami. Rage, grief, fear... all intense emotions collapsed with a bang after reaching their peak, leaving only a boundless, deathly void.
He stared blankly at the woman leaning in his enemy's arms, at that familiar yet utterly strange face. His mind was a complete blank; he had lost even the ability to think.
Kanjuro seemed very interested in his "wife's" suggestion. He looked at Hachiman Hikigaya playfully, as if assessing the value of an object. His gaze was like a cold scalpel, cutting through Hachiman Hikigaya's final mental defenses.
"Hehe..." Kanjuro laughed softly. He reached out to pull Mrs. Hikitani by the waist, but his gaze remained locked on Hachiman Hikigaya's face, which looked like that of a hollow doll.
"Not for now, dear." His voice was gentle, yet it carried the chill of a final judgment. "Let him live."
"After all, watching everything you cherish being completely defiled and distorted while being powerless to stop it, losing even the right to hate... this kind of living, sometimes compared to death..."
Kanjuro paused, his lips curling into an extremely cruel arc.
"...isn't it more interesting?"
Hachiman Hikigaya sat there in a daze, showing no reaction to Kanjuro's words. His eyes had completely lost their luster, like two crushed glass beads.
He had lost.
He had lost his father's life, his mother's soul, his sister's innocence, and... himself.
The game was over.
And he, Hachiman Hikigaya, had become a walking corpse in this dark game—completely broken and discarded into the abyss of despair.
In the living room, only the whispers of Kanjuro and his "wife and daughter" remained, along with the shell named "Hachiman Hikigaya" sitting on the sofa, whose very breathing seemed to have stopped.
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