The rain was so heavy, droplets splattering on the window loudly. Mirai cuddles herself in bed, hoping she could let the exhaustion take over her overloading thoughts about Ryosuke and the encounter back in his house. The mysterious woman who came into his house, what were they doing behind closed doors. All these thoughts tormented her. The rain made her more unsettling too. It was eventually a doorbell that startled her. She didn't know why she was so nervous at the sounding of the doorbell, but strangely, the doorbell sounded as urgent. She hesitated when she stepped nearer, afraid it was a malicious intruder? She mustered her courage and peeked through the peephole.

"Heh?!!" She was surprised to see a drenched Ryosuke in front of her door. She quickly opened the door for him.

"Ryosuke? What happened? Why are you here? And you were in the rain..." she went closer, pulling him into the house. He was cold like ice, but his eyes too, were as cold and as expressionless as it could get. Once the door shuts behind them, she saw a different Ryosuke... and as much as she hoped not to believe, he was deranged.

"Ryosuke!!!" Mirai screamed in shocked as he pushed her onto her couch and went on top of her, underpinning her. His weight pressed upon her, there's no way she could push him away.

"Ryosuke, let me go... what are you doing?" He tried to kiss her violently from her lips, moving to her ear then her neck, and all these time regardless how she struggled, he turned a deaf ear, trapping her in his strong grasp.

"Didn't you want this? Now I want it! With you! Not with anyone else not her, but with you! I can do it... as long as I'm with you... i can..." 

Whatever he said, only half made sense. Her desires were true but not in this state of violent, not in the arms of a stranger. Yes, Mirai couldn't sense any bit of Ryosuke. He was supposed to be gentle. Was it revenge for what she almost did to him? No, Ryosuke wouldn't hurt her, she believed. His lips was all over her. Just then, Ryosuke was thrown off her with a punch so strong, so vengeful.

"Niichan!" Mirai was quickly picked up by Daiki who returned to see Ryosuke offending her. Daiki was furious. He kept Mirai behind him, while going to Ryosuke once more and held him by his collar.

"You... how dare you treat my sister like this..."

Instead of answering Daiki or defending himself from another punch, he ended up laughing hysterically. He disregarded Daiki who looked at him with death glare, he disregarded Mirai who was watching him worriedly. He just continued laughing.

"Whats so hilarious. Stop it!" Daiki could not hold back anymore. Just as when he was about to throw another punch at him, Mirai ran up and used herself as a human shield.

"Get away Mirai! This guy, I need to seriously wake him up"

"Niichan, please dont. I believe in him... he didn't mean it..."

"And he almost forced you... now you are defending him?!"

"Mirai..." Ryosuke looked at her with sorrows, or rather Mirai saw a guy who seemed to have a thousand things to say to her but didn't know where to begin and how to put it. His remorse was written all over his face that's why she knew at once that he did not mean it at all. Mirai pulled Daiki aside, leaving Ryosuke still petrified on the ground. 

"niichan, can't you tell, something horrible must have happened to him. look at him, you know that's not the Ryosuke we know right?"

"what can happen? He is a grown man and he is a much stronger person than we think..." Daiki exclaimed but after he took a closer look at him, he withdrew his response, "you know what, i think I won't deny he doesn't look like the guy I know... whatever it is, that's it for the night. I'm not gonna leave you with him alone until he settles himself down."

"you gonna send him home?"

"of course."

"niichan, i have a feeling something bad happened to him at his apartment. We let him stay here tonight, all right? I promise I'll take care of myself. Besides, you are at home now aren't you"

"Mirai... you...."

"i just wanna care for my boyfriend, niichan. I don't think that's wrong."

"... you and your arguments, i can't outtalk you. whatever you wish." Daiki sighed then walked over to Ryosuke who is completely staring into space, tired, disheveled. He looked so vulnerable that thinking back, Daiki felt bad for being so unforgiving and violent towards him too. Holding him up, he said to Ryosuke, "I don't know what is the matter with you. But I warn you not to hurt my sister again. I won't be kind the next time it happens." He saw Ryosuke taking a brief look at Mirai, seemingly trying to ascertain she is not injured by his sudden attempt and at the same time managing his own remorse and embarrassement.

"I'll go get some clothes for you." Daiki went off, pulling Mirai along so that they 2 won't be left alone. As Mirai followed her brother, her eyes met his. She saw tears. She heard his silent apology and she accepted it right away. Yet she couldn't see any smile left on him. He was still the same expressionless guy who rang the doorbell, albeit his fearsome image earlier has vanished.

Mirai stayed in her room, lying on her bed, quietly listening out if there's any sound below. Her mind is infiltrated by the thoughts of what could possibly have happened to cause some drastic reaction from Ryosuke, but nothing seems logical. The instance she shuts her eye, she saw the scary Ryosuke on top of her. His eyes was burning with vengence not lust; he was forcing himself, Mirai realised, springing herself up from the bed. "why is he forcing himself to do something he didn't want to..." she pressed on her temples and thought deeply. "Didn't you want this? Now I want it! With you! Not with anyone else not her, but with you! I can do it... as long as I'm with you... i can..." She recalled Ryosuke saying.

"who is her?" Mirai tried not to suspect, but she begin to suspect something about the lady again. She wanted to see him so badly as she thought of all the uneasiness. She needed to see him to put her mind at ease. She let herself to the living room where he was. Silently, she crept up to him. He laid on the couch on his sides, his arms folded and there were still fragment of tears trapped in the corner of his tightly-shut eyes. She gently traced her fingers along his bruised lips from Daiki's punch and felt her own heartache. She carassed his hair, brushing his bangs away from his face. "What happened Ryosuke?" she said in her mind. Seeing him so weak and fragile, she helplessly brought her head closer to him, leaning beneath the crook of his chin against his chest, holding his hands firmly in hers. His irregular heartbeat seems to return the nomalcy as she continued to stay by his side, and that brings a subtle smile for the night. 

Daiki stood, watching his sister comfort the torn boy. Albeit worried for her, he felt fuzzy too. "It was a rough night for the 2 of you... Whatever happened, as long as you guys got each other, I think it will be fine," he reasoned to himself as he silently wished them goodnight. 

In the next morning, Mirai woke up with something unexpected. She finds her on the couch where Ryosuke occupied and the blanket she put on him is now on her. There was no trace of him at all as she looked around. That feeling of emptiness was even more scary than yesterday. She was convinced now that whatever it is, Ryosuke has become an indespensible person in her life and nothing is more important than keeping him by her side. "Ryosuke?!"

"He left already... and if you are not going to hurry up, you are gonna be late for school"

"heh?! when??"

"Well, he borrowed my old uniform which unsurprisingly fit perfect on him, much better than on myself (laugh). Then he left. And yes, if you are wondering, he was the one who put you on the couch. I saw him looking at you for a while before leaving."

"and you didn't wake me up..."

"there's no opportunity you see. I only needed to ensure he don't do the same stupid thing again. Besides, it was really quite a nice scene to see him gently patting you and giving you a light peck on your cheek"

"HEH?! niichan!" Mirai rushed to her room and quickly changed before rushing to school to meet Ryosuke. But since she was obviously very late for school, she really didn't have the chance to see him before the lessons starts shortly. She instead texting him.

"Ryosuke,

I hope you are feeling better. If you don't mind, let's meet during breaktime, at the rooftop?"

Before she could start pondering how long or whether he will reply, her phone vibrated. It was so immediate that it seemed as though he was also thinking of contacting her. This thought alone make her glad.

"Mirai.

I thought you don't wanna talk to me anymore. I'm sorry about yesterday. I would wanna tell you directly how apologetic I was for my unruly behaviour yesterday but I think I am too embarrassed to say it. I hope you accept my apology. You must have alot of questions, about the woman, about yesterday, about the reason for my hospitalisation that year. I'll tell you. Meet you at the rooftop."

Why is it that she felt like she didn't want to know all that anymore even though just yesterday she was hoping to get the answers. She felt so uneasy that knowing all that might ruin the relationship. She heard her friends in Kyoto mentioned before - Being oblivious, being out of the know, is sometimes better, and is sometimes the attitude that keeps things together. Maybe maintaining the status quo is better. It doesn't matter who the lady is, what happened yesterday, she is already certain Ryosuke is her boyfriend and as long as he is by her side, nothing about his past matters.

"Ryosuke, i don't need answers. I love you the way you are."

He didnt reply. It left her both nervous and lost. She jumped as her phone vibrated again, this time it was a long one. "Who is calling me at this time?" She reacted angstily as the teacher walked in. She saw Daiki's name on the phone and frowned at his insensitive perception of time. Mirai shut her phone after repeated vibration which is loud enough to attract the attention of Umika and Sora. 

"who's that calling you? Maybe it's urgent..." Sora asked.

"It's Daiki. but I'll just call him back later."

Sora nodded. Lessons went on only shortly before they heard sirens entering the school compound. Students chatter soon roared the school as everyone crowded by the windows to see what was happening. Police cars were parked untidily at the entrance with at least 5 police detectives. Mirai was simply too engrossed with her issues to notice all the commotion until Sora came frantically to her.

"Mirai... something bad happened."

"what?" she finally saw the pale look on her friends face.

"omg... he is caught?! wonder what happened?" she heard the chatters. She turned back to her friends.

"Kento called me. he said Ryosuke..." Sora said.

"Ryosuke?"

"the police took Ryosuke away"

"Daiki texted to say he's arrested for suspected murder" Sora added to Umika's statement. Mirai was simply dumbfounded by the unbelievable revelation. Yuriko sensei too appeared in shock. Despite her plea for students to remain seated, one lone student dashed out. Mirai couldn't care more. She had to understand what's going on. Umika and Sora followed suit, only to find Kento already there.

"Ryosuke!" Mirai shouted as she saw him handcuffed.

"Mirai! I didn't do it... believe me.. (Let go off me!)" he shouted to the detectives, struggling in the cuffs and the tough officers who restrained him. Mirai knew they were hurting him as he tried to get out of their control, so she urges him to stop struggling, but to no avail. He continued to plea for his innocence, much more to her. By now there were many other students watching. They were murmurs from the onlookers, unfortunately the murmurs were deafening and shown the most ugly and unforgiving of humanity. They called him 'psychopath revives', 'the return of the maniac'. Mirai knew he heard it, she felt his heart breaking and understand why despite his struggles being completely futile, he still wants to voice out his innocence. Mirai shook off Umika and Sora and ran towards Ryosuke, grabbing his cuffed hands, leaving the officers helpless. "Ryosuke, what happened? Why are they saying you killed someone?!"

"Believe me, Mirai... please, I didn't do it. I... dont wanna be alone! Don't let them take me please..." he held her hands so tightly especially when the head investigation officer arrived and ordered for him to be taken immediately.

"Ryosuke!" Mirai was pulled away by Daiki who arrived with the head investigation officer. "Let go off me!" She hears his struggle and that instance both their hands slipped out of each other, Mirai felt like her world and his crumbled. She felt he was left alone to fend everything and she was helpless. She felt like she's falling into a blackhole, leaving her petrified as she stared at the scene with any bystanders.

"Pull yourself together! It's not gonna help if you make a further mess of this!" Daiki scolded Mirai. She couldn't hear it in. Not when Ryosuke continued to struggle with the officers. 

"What are you all doing?! Let the doctor do his job!" He instructed the officers. Then a doctor came out of the same vehicle with a syringe in his hands. She needn't Ryosuke to tell her but she know it's the most frightening experience in his life that he doesn't wanna go through it. 

"Let go!!! No, I'm not sick! You can't do this!!" Ryosuke went completely berserk as he saw the doctor approached. Mirai turned to her equally shocked brother who didn't seem to know the police's operation for this case. Daiki hollered over to the head, "Kenji, you don't have the rights to do this."

"Why don't i? This guy's medical history is enough reasons for me to ensure the safety of our own officers and the crowd. You won't wanna risk the safety of the public right? I mean, Detective Daiki, Im sure you know the protocol."

"That's preconception, you are judgemental. He is well already."

"Can you be sure you know this dude well? Seriously, Detective Daiki, I seriously doubt your professionalism. He is a suspect of a serious murder, yet you allow your subjective bias cloud your perceptions"

Daiki was speechless. Mirai was devastated. As they restrained Ryosuke, they harshly injected the syringe into his arms. That brief second, everyone stopped in silence. Ryosuke gradually lost his energy, slowly slipping into the officer's grip. Even he became silent, as if he has given up all hopes. He was cuffed both on his hands and legs then supported into the police vehicle and sent off. Those left behind, remained, in a state of shock.

***

In deep knots, Daiki pondered hard at the state of the crime scene. He couldn't care more how cocky Kenji has been since being assigned the role of head detective for this big case, overthrowing Daiki only because he is the brother of the suspect's girlfriend. But obnoxious Kenji wouldn't be bothered by the real reason for replacing Daiki off the case, instead celebrate over it. Daiki's only concern was on the case that has so many questions unexplained. He stared at the evidence, amongst them were splattered blood stains on the bed, bloody handprints all over the wall, broken furnitures and things all fallen on the ground. Daiki tried hard to consider the work of an intruder but there were no sign of breaking in.

"Daiki, just accept it. The suspect must have a disagreement with the victim, they fought and that explains why the apartment is in a mess. Then he picked up a knife and stabbed her multiple times. The blood stains do tell the story you know."

"Then what's the motive. He doesn't have a reason to kill her in such brutality. "

"Well, you're wrong then. Besides his questionable insanity you refused to believe, he does have a solid reason for killing her..."

The confidence Kenji showed makes Daiki shivered in chills of fear. As he listened to Kenji's findings thus far, he began to doubt every single encounter he had with the guy he thought he knew. Daiki mumbled to himself, "maybe he was all along a stranger cause now everything about him sounds foreign."

"Detective Daiki, I want to remind you that this case is reassigned to me. I urge you not to in the case. Perhaps I recommend you take leave to take care of your little sister. She can't be entirely sane if she's dating someone at that level of sanity."

Daiki raised his fist and was on the verge of throwing a punch at Kenji's rudeness, until his boss held him back. "He's right. Go to your sister, she needs you. The case can well be handled by Kenji." His boss reassured. Daiki walked away discouraged. He would want his boss to rely on him, yet the nature of the case sets him back to where he started. He couldn't help but feel a little angry on how things are. Sighing by the door separating him and the other more worrying being, he realised he is trapped in a predicament he don't know how to escape. Racing in his car, he drove aimlessly until he reached somewhere familiar. Turned out, he wasn't moving aimlessly. He was at her door. His ex. He sat in car, staring at her apartment that sat so still. The lights weren't on, so he assumed she's asleep. His mind wanders off to a time he tugged her to bed, and no matter how bad the day, he always felt at ease when he talks to her. She may not understand what he meant, in fact she doesn't understand at all, yet her mere presence is so comforting.

The knock on his car window startled him from his trance. He looked up and saw the familiar face by his car.

"Daiki...."

"Misaki... sorry, I was about to go..."

"You're here not by coincident isn't it. You're looking for me, so here I am..." she went into his car and sat at her favourite seat, beside the driver's. It didn't surprise him at all. Instead, it reminded him of how she's always straight forward, and all of that hasn't change despite the trauma she faced. He drove back to his own apartment and throughout, he didn't speak a word. Misaki exited his car when it was outside his apartment, and confidently walked away.

"Misaki... i thought you would ask what happened?"

"Don't I know you enough. You will never wanna trouble others with your problems. You'll say if you want to."

"Misaki, do you forgive me?"

"Long ago... you're doing your job, so i thought about it, there's really no reason to hate you." She said it swiftly with a smile, and resumed walking.

"I'll drive you home, Misaki."

"It's okay. I have learnt to be independent. I have relied on you too much previously... Daiki..." she gasped, stopped moving further as she couldn't. Daiki hugged her from behind. Memories flood his mind like clips from a movie. The ringing of his phone was the only thing that ruined the moment. He let go off Misaki then picked up the phone lethargically. However, no one answered him when he repeatedly called. The only sound came not from the phone, but Misaki's voice.

"Daiki, is that your friend?" She said hesitantly. Daiki was even more hesitant when he realises he didnt need to turn around to see who the person was.

"Sora..." he finally saw her frozen behind him. He knew then that she probably saw him with Misaki. Misaki gave him a subtle assuring smile and stepped away, and he knows that her message was clear - it's not her war to fight, their love was over. Now it's his to sort out with Sora.

"Daiki... I w-wanted to see if you needed help. I'm s-sorry." 

Her apology evoked guilt in Daiki. There wasn't a need for her to apologise, and if there was any wrong, it was him. He did tell Sora he would try out with her, yet the scene she saw could only be read as a betrayal, even in its slightest significance. He wanted to run after her, but his feet werent listening to his bidding. He guessed he would be the last person she wants to see at this point.

It's one issue after another. Daiki felt he was suffocating especially when he wrenched the door of his apartment. There he saw Mirai, transitioning from her depressed state to an excited state, springing up from the coach and running towards him. She held his arms and looked into his eyes with strong anticipation of what news he brought back.

"Niichan, have you found out everything?" She asked. Holding his breathe, he brought her back to the coach, so that she wouldn't collapse by the end of his recount. "Niichan... you must save Ryosuke~ he wouldn't kill anyone. You will believe him too right? You said he's a good person too, ne, niichan"

He couldn't bear look into those tear-bound eyes, almost pleading him for a kind answer. he couldn't give her any but more harm. As he started speaking, he thinks of her bleeding heart. "Mirai, there's a lot you don't know about him. He is not what you think, and Mirai, they are right, he has all the reasons to kill the woman."

"The woman is the one pestering him. She came to his house to look for him. She's the suspicious one" Mirai argued.

"She's not just any woman, Mirai..." Daiki grabbed Mirai's shoulder to suppress her agitation with his stern eyes. "She's his stepmother, and it's not just that..."

***
Sora strolled on the pavement downspirited. She didn't even notice that someone else had been waiting for her at her doorsteps, that she walked right into him.

"Heh?" She absentmindedly looked up. "It's you..." she said to Kento. She wanted to shrug him off and enter their apartment, but the latter refused. "You're blocking my way..."

"Yes I am. To be affected at this time over love isn't a very wise choice ne."

"How did you know?" Sora was surprised by Kento's statement that suggested he knew of the episode.

"The supposed jerk who made my sister lose her soul called me just now..."

"What did he say?" She was awakened by his statement.

"Well, he asked me to look after you and tell you he's sorry..."

"....Why is he apologising? ... i don't even have the right to ask for an apology or to get angry. I was the one who like him. He was the one who wasn't sure. I assured him even though he wasn't ready." Sora broke down eventually in her brother's embrace. He patted her lightly on her back until she stopped. 

"Feeling better?"

She nodded with his hands still on her stiffened shoulders. 

"He's not having a good time either. Whatever it is, put this aside first. Mirai is our friend, and we should be there for her during this difficult time. So pull yourself together okay?" Kento said seriously.

"Have you heard any updates?"

"Things doesn't look good. I heard from Umika that all evidence points to Ryosuke. It's almost conclusive, regardless whether he confesses in less than 48 hours"