Begging to Keep the Ordinary
"Diiiieeee!!! Die!!! Die!! Die!!! Just diiiiiiie-----!!!"
Chain's tirade ended, but no answer came back from Rai.
A horrifically bloodied face. Eyes swollen shut in ruin. A mouth torn to shreds. His body, crushed under the relentless violence, lay sprawled and motionless across the floor.
He looked dead. But faintly — just barely — he was still breathing.
".........."
Rai's fingers twitched, ever so slightly. Then, after a long, wavering hesitation, he finally opened his mouth.
"I... kno..w..."
No real voice came out. Only ragged breath hissed from the depths of his throat. When he tried to draw in another breath, his face twisted with pain. And then, at last—
"What... am I... even..."
At his words, Chain's brow shifted, almost imperceptibly. Rai slowly lifted his head. The mouth that revealed itself was a wretched sight — nearly all his teeth shattered from the punches, every syllable collapsing as it left his lips, his tongue barely able to move at all.
"What... did I... do... why does everyone... hate me... like this..."
Tears began to spill from Rai's eyes.
"The Rai Hopeless... that I... know..."
His breath shook.
"Is just... a college student... majoring... in Gate Studies..."
The moment he forced those words out, his head dropped again. Thud.
He gasped for air. But he didn't stop.
"One... bloodsucking... leech..."
Blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth.
"Khah...!! One strange... little kid... I look after..."
His voice grew smaller and smaller.
"That's just... how I live... a college student..."
Rai closed his eyes.
"That's..."
And the tears kept coming, unstoppable.
"That's the me... that I know..."
When Rai finished speaking... Chain's face froze.
".........."
Rai asked in a voice full of grief.
"Then..."
"........"
"Why do you... hate me... so much...?"
At that question, the look in Chain's eyes changed.
"......Out of that mouth."
It was a low voice.
"You — you — don't you dare talk about Gate Studies."
When Rai forced his eyes open, what was reflected in them was Chain's contorted face.
"What could you... possibly know..."
"...."
"What could you possibly know... to dare speak of an ordinary college student..."
Chain's fists trembled.
Wham---!!!
She seized Rai by the throat and hauled him up into the air.
Grrk.
And then—
CRASH----!!!
She drove her fist straight into his face.
"......!"
CRAM!!!
"If you don't know what you are..."
CRAM!!!
"Then stay not knowing..."
Chain's eyes rolled back in fury.
"Diiiiiie-----!!!"
CRAM!!!
Blood sprayed.
"Diiiiiie-----!!!"
CRAM!!!
More blood sprayed.
"Just diiiiiiiiiie-----!!!"
CRAM!!!
"DIE, DAMN YOOOOUU-----!!!"
CRAM!!!
Chain's voice cracked and split.
"DIIIIIIIIIEEEEE------!!!"
CRAM!!!
Blood fell to the floor.
Chain no longer saw anything around her. She saw only Rai's ruined face. No — she wasn't even truly looking at Rai's face anymore. She was staring at the thing she had believed in, the existence called Akra.
That name. That nightmare. All the rage that had piled up inside her over the years, she was pouring it all onto Rai.
"Please... just die..."
CRAM---!!!!
"Die..."
Cram...!!!
"Just... die..."
At last.
Thud.
Chain's arm stopped.
"Haa......"
She exhaled roughly. Her hands were shaking. And then she looked down.
Only then was Chain able to truly look at Rai's face. It was a face that could barely be called a human face anymore. Chain found she had no words for it.
"........."
Then, slowly, she reached into her coat.
Clack.
A dagger came out.
"......For whatever time you have left."
Chain's voice was startlingly calm.
"I won't be able to bear the sight of your face."
The hand gripping the dagger moved.
"Just die here, now."
The blade touched Rai's throat.
"And fall to hell."
Chain whispered, as if in prayer.
"Apologize to 'Lafia'... who's waiting in heaven."
The dagger rose slowly. Toward Rai's throat. And then—
The instant she was about to drive it down—
Drip.
A teardrop fell.
Chain's eyes froze. It was a tear that had slid down from Rai's shattered, ruined eye.
".........."
Chain stared at Rai in sheer disbelief.
"What is this."
A hollow, bitter laugh escaped her.
"Don't tell me..."
She looked down at the dagger in her hand.
"Are you actually... begging for your life?"
Rai's lips trembled. He was trying to speak. But with his mouth destroyed as it was, not even a proper sound would come out.
"Do... don't taaake it..."
Chain's eyes wavered.
"Pl... please..."
Squeezing every last ounce of strength from his body just to force out a single word.
"Don't take it... away..."
His breath broke off. Rai drew in another gulp of air.
"Don't... take it... away... from me..."
Chain's face creased into a frown.
"Take what."
Rai wept.
"My... everyday life..."
"........"
"It's... something I... finally... got..."
Chain's expression hardened. Rai's voice shook.
"I... I had nothing... nothing at all..."
The tears kept streaming down.
"And then... I was finally... given this..."
Rai lifted his head.
"Only now..."
His voice cracked.
"Only now, barely..."
He swallowed hard.
"Only now can I... laugh with people..."
Chain's fingers trembled, faintly.
"........"
"For someone who had... nothing... no one..."
Rai's voice wavered, desolate and raw.
"I finally... have a life of my own..."
"..........."
"Eating meals..."
A tear dropped from his chin.
"Going to school..."
"........"
"Talking with people..."
Rai tried, with great effort, to smile. But because of his ruined face, even that expression couldn't become a smile.
"It's nothing special at all..."
His voice trembled.
"But it... made me so... so happy—khh... khak....."
Chain's eyes shook.
"And yet..."
Rai's voice completely fell apart.
"Why... why are you trying to take it from me again..."
Chain could not speak.
"Please..."
Rai pleaded.
"Anything... but that..."
"......"
"Anything but that... please don't take it from me..."
The dagger in Chain's hand trembled, minutely.
"You..."
Chain finally opened her mouth.
"Do you think you deserve... a life like that?"
Rai's eyes flew wide open.
Chain's voice shook.
"Do you think you have the right... to want something like that?!"
Rai's face contorted. And then—
Everything he had been holding back burst out all at once.
"Whaaaat... did I do so wrong?!!!"
Chain flinched.
"What did I dooo—!! What!! Kuhehakh---!!! What did I do that was so wrong?!!!"
Rai coughed up blood and screamed until his throat tore.
"In an orphanage, with no family----!!!"
His voice cracked.
"It was just me and my sister, scraping by together------!!!"
The tears poured out.
"And then she died too------!!!"
"........."
"I was left all aloooone-------!!!"
Rai smashed his ruined fist against the floor.
Bam----!!
"With nobody thereee--!! With nothing thereee-----!!!"
He panted, gasping for breath.
"I lived my whole life aloooone----!!!"
Chain's expression froze.
"And then suddenly I'm an Akra-----!!!"
Rai's voice ripped itself apart.
"I got kidnapped-----!!!"
"............"
"I got stabbed through the gut------!!!"
Rai clutched his abdomen.
"So why do I have to diiiiiiieeeee------!!"
Tears and blood mingled together.
"What did I do wrooong----!!! What did I do wroooong----!!!"
A poisonous darkness crept into Rai's eyes.
"Why does everyone... only ever take things from me...!"
Chain could say nothing.
"Whyyyyyyy----!!!"
Rai wailed with what was left of his voice.
"Kkeuk... uuuuk... why... aaaahhh..."
His voice splintered.
"Do I have... to be... aloooone..."
Chain's lips trembled.
"I want..."
Rai's voice grew quieter.
"I want..."
A tear fell.
"To just... live ordinaaaarily... too..."
Those words stabbed straight into Chain's chest.
Rai spoke through trembling lips.
"Please..."
He bowed his head.
"Just... leave me alone now..."
And then—
"I'm begging youuu..."
Chain stared at Rai with a frozen face. For a long while, she couldn't say a word. And then—
She slowly shook her head.
"......No."
Her voice wavered.
"It can't be..."
She shook her head again.
"That's impossible..."
"...."
"You..."
Chain murmured, as if speaking to herself.
"You're an Akra..."
But there was no conviction in her voice.
That moment—
Rai suddenly raised his head. And, like a man who had given up on everything, he let out a howl of despair.
"Fuuuuck thiiiiiis------!!!"
Chain's eyes flew open wide.
"Then just kill me-----!!!"
Rai screamed through his tears.
"KILL MEEE-------!!!"
".........!"
"I'll just leave this fucking world behiiiind---! AAAAAAHHHHH----!!!"
Rai's voice tore itself to shreds.
"FUCK EVERYTHIIIING-------!!!"
At Rai's screams, Chain clutched her head in her hands.
"Ah......"
An agonized groan spilled out of her.
"Stop..."
Her hands shook.
"Stop it..."
But Rai's screams kept burrowing into her skull, relentless.
Chain suddenly seized Rai by the collar.
"You are an Akra----!!!"
Thram---!!!
Rai's body was yanked up into the air.
"You're an Akra Minus---!!!"
Madness flared in Chain's eyes.
"A piece of garbage that stole the everyday lives of humanityyyyy------!!!"
Her voice cracked.
"Do you have any idea how much people lost because of you?!"
"......."
"So you—!"
Chain's words cut off.
Rai was looking at her.
He wasn't raging anymore. His eyes were simply exhausted, worn down to nothing. And through his ruined lips, a very quiet voice slipped out.
"......My name is."
Chain's eyes wavered.
"Rai... Hopeless..."
Rai drew in a labored breath.
"An ordinary... kkeu-uuk... college student."
That instant—
Every emotion drained out of Chain's face. The rage. The hatred. The madness. All of it vanished. What remained was only emptiness.
"........."
Chain stared at Rai for a long time. The Akra she had despised so fiercely. The man she had believed was the reason she lost everything. And yet here, right in front of her, was a man weeping only because he wanted to live an ordinary life.
The strength drained from Chain's hand.
Thud.
Rai's body dropped to the floor.
Chain said nothing. She simply stood there, dazed, staring down at Rai crumpled on the ground. And then, very softly—
"Rai... Hopeless."
For the first time, she spoke that name aloud — not in resentment, but in a voice that carried something else entirely.