Read Voracity's End [Eng Novel] :: Chapter 2. Victory is yours pt 1

Upon feeling the icy sensation on his body, the blond woke up with a strong feeling of lethargy. Hadn’t he been sleeping? Why did he feel this way? Although well, the temperature of the place he was in was inhumanly low so could he even complain about anything other than that?

Wait. Inhumanly low temperature?

"What…? Where am I…? Mitsuru murmured as he saw the mist of his breath forming. He sat up as much as he could due to the small space and looked around him.

Without much surprise, there wasn't much to see, it was only surrounded by three metal walls, while the fourth was made of frozen glass. It was impossible to see through it with the frost in the way.

Moving away from his surroundings, Mitsuru examined his body. He was wearing a black t-shirt with light gray shorts, and at the moment, he had a tube connected to his back that came from the ceiling of the place. What did it do? He wasn't too sure but he really wished he could take it off.

He didn't understand very well, but despite his lethargy and confusion about where he was, the blond wasn't scared. He knew what was happening in that place, and although he curiously did not have it present in his mind, he had already resigned himself to it; However, one of the things that bothered him was the crushing boredom he felt.

He lived a constant cycle of boredom, cold and boredom once again.

“I want to get out of here…, I'm bored…, I'm cold…”

Saying this, the blue-eyed watched as a projection appeared to cover the frosted glass. In it, Mitsuru could see his black-haired brother, who was sitting behind a sofa with a stuffed rabbit in his arms.

He didn't understand the reason, but when the projection showed him his brother, he was in a room that looked incredibly fun. It had video games, food, snacks and even though they weren't his preference, stuffed animals everywhere. On top of that, there was a sofa which looked incredibly comfortable to sit on to play video games on the giant screen. And he couldn't ignore, of course, the enormous bed in the place that screamed his name for him to lie down on it.

When was the last time he was able to sleep in one? At the moment he could only imagine himself inside the covers and try to forget the sheer cold. However, at the moment the screen did not show said room, he only saw his brother sitting behind the sofa apparently asleep. What was he doing there if he could use the bed to sleep?

Examining his face, Masaru looked pale and haggard. He was wearing a spiked choker, a black long-sleeved T-shirt with ocher shorts. He was wearing socks, and his legs, which were bare, showed various bruises of different shades.

“Masaru! Hey!" Mitsuru exclaimed. Despite his lethargy, he cheered up a little when he saw any of his siblings. He knew that his brother was asleep but he knew he should take the opportunity to talk to him. "Are you asleep?? Hey! Hey!!”

At the incessant screams, Masaru opened his eyes wearily. Was he hearing things?

“Masaru! Hey! Fool!"

“Ugh… What the…”

Masaru looked up at the ceiling and searched the sides but he didn't see anyone. Was it again a projection of his brother's voice?

"It's been a while since we've talked!"

“Mitsuru…?”

"Yes, it's me!"

“That way of expressing yourself… Did you… again? Although it's stupid to ask that when you obviously wouldn't know."

“What would I not know?

“Oh, it's nothing.”

“By the way, what are you doing behind the sofa when you have a comfortable bed to sleep in?”

"You can see me…?"

"Of course I can! So what are you doing back there?”

“Hmm… I was just playing hide and seek.”

“Did you fall asleep playing hide and seek…?” Mitsuru muttered, very confused.

“Yes… I got sleepy and I fell asleep.”

“I see... And what about that stuffed animal? I see you're still carrying it,” the blond pointed out, he couldn't stop thinking about how strange it was to see his brother with that rabbit every time. He knew that Masaru liked stuffed animals, but this wasn’t normal for him.

“I'm forced to bring it with me, I know, it's very stupid.”

"Huh? That's it? Wow, sounds easy enough. Do you want to change places with me? I'm bored here"

"Change places…?" Masaru questioned as his expression distorted into fright. "No. No way, you… I can’t… I can’t allow that…”

"Huh? Why not? Although well, I guess it's really cold here and you can't do much more than stare at the frosted glass…”

“That’s not it, Mitsuru, don't you dare ask to change places with me.”

"Why? What would make you so against it? …Masaru?”

“Just don't do it,” the black-haired said , evidently fed up.

"But why not?"

“Because I said so, that's why”

"Huh? Are you imitating Daiki now?” Mitsuru questioned, looking incredulous at his brother's response.

“No, but he would tell you that I am right.”

“You still haven't given me a reason as to why not.”

“Obviously I don't want to explain, so stop asking me the reason.”

“But I'm very bored, I don't want to be here…” answered the blue eyed while he pouted. He knew that the place where he was was not ideal and anyone would refuse, but couldn't he switch with him for a little while?

“I don't want to be here either, but things are the way they are,” Masaru replied, feeling annoyed. He felt exhausted and his whole body hurt, he didn't want to argue with Mitsuru because he had no energy, but his brother wasn't helping.

“If you don't want to be there, let's change places!”

“Did you even hear what I…?! “Ugh, you’re a pain in the…!” The black-haired knelt and slowly stood up.

“Just for a little while, I'm freezing here... Can we?”

Masaru sighed. He imagined that the place where Mitsuru was was horrible, what more would he like to give him a chance to be in the room, but... Sadly he couldn't.

“Look, you don't want to be here. You don’t know what you are saying”

“Well at least I know I don't want to be here!” Mitsuru exclaimed, sounding frustrated, however, his scream was not as loud as it would normally be due to his weakness.

“That doesn't make it any better here, moron!”

“Is this a bad joke? You're in a room with video games, food, and a bed! That already makes it better than here!”

Masaru exhaled in obvious exasperation.

“Why don't you want to share when you know I'm freezing in here?! It doesn't cost you anything!”

“Hey, stop it! You are very annoying! It’s not as simple as that!”

"Besides! You're not even that good at playing video games! I would put them to better use than you!”

Masaru held his forehead immediately afterwards.

“Is this because there are video games here? Geez…In any case, says the lousy player that justifies himself saying that he is only interested in the story. Look, you really don't want to be here."

“Well, says the one who carries a stuffed animal with him everywhere!”

“I already told you that I'm forced to… Damn, one can't even feel like crap anymore cause of having to deal with your stupidity.”

“Yeah, sure, just admit that you like that stuffed animal…”

“I don't care about the stupid stuffed animal!” Masaru exclaimed as he picked up the rabbit and raised it as if he were going to throw it; However, he stopped and shortly afterward he held it again with his arm.

“Weren't you going to throw it away?”

“I can't…” Masaru looked away, looking somewhere between annoyed and resigned.

“Or else what?”

"You know… You're lucky that I'm more tolerant than Daiki, otherwise I would have already thrown it away.”

“You make it sound like it's dangerous.”

“You don’t say… You're really tempting me to throw it.”

"And why don't you do it?"

“Because if I do, you… Wow, I almost said it. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but that was clever."

“What was clever?”

"...Forget it. I almost had something incredible to tell Daiki, but your stupidity simply has no limit.

Normally, Mitsuru would have responded angrily, but seeing Masaru regain some energy, the blond ended up smiling.

“Hmm… You're talking more now.”

“And your attitude is ridiculous, how many times did it take you to revert to being so oblivious?” Masaru asked as he laughed. Mitsuru continued smiling, at least, until he saw how his brother, from laughing, suddenly fell silent. The black-haired’s gaze looked alert.

“Masaru?”

[I'm sorry...] Masaru muttered as he looked downcast. Why was he apologizing?

"Hey! Why are you apologizing?!" he yelled. However, at the moment of shouting, the projection ended, leaving the frosted glass in its place.

“Masaru! Did you turn off the projection?! Can you do that?!” the blond asked loudly, not knowing if the other could hear him. "Don’t ignore me!"

…

Minutes later, though the projection did not return, he could hear a weak and fragile voice coming from somewhere.

[N-No…No…. No…]

Was his brother crying? Why? Why did he sound so scared and nervous?

[No! No! Please! No!!! Ugh…!] Masaru had gone from pleading to screaming in desperation and pain. Shrilling screams, so horrifying, that left Mitsuru paralyzed.

He was in a room a thousand times better than where the blond was, and yet... The more the crying did not cease, Mitsuru considered that maybe... That freezer-like place wasn't so bad.

“Masaru! Hey! Masaru! What's going on?!"

It wasn't until the voice stopped and silence dominated the small space for several minutes that Mitsuru stopped yelling. His heart seemed to want to burst out of his chest, as he did not remember feeling greater suspense and terror than at that moment.

[I-I'm sorry, Mitsuru...] his brother's voice finally returned.

"What was that…?" the blue-eyed one questioned as he still trembled in horror.

[I couldn’t hear you... It was really sudden... Don't worry...] said Masaru, who sounded like he had run out of breath and was trying to recover.

“How can I not worry?! You screamed terribly! What's going on?! Explain!"

[Huh…? You heard me…?] Masaru uttered in a distraught yet quiet tone.

“Tell me what's going on, Masaru!”

[That was... I...] at the sound of something hitting the floor, the sound cut off, and in the small space, the sound of cold air coming out of the vents could be heard again.

Mitsuru considered that his brother had probably collapsed, or at least that's what he thought had happened.

“You're a fool…” the blond muttered as he positioned himself so that he pressed his legs against his chest, hugging them in an attempt to warm himself a little.

“No… I am.”

Mitsuru opened his eyes slowly. Feeling the blanket on top of him, he knew that what had happened before had just been a nightmare; However, he did not forget how helpless he had felt being trapped in that place without being able to do anything. The youngest sat up and looked at Masaru, who was sleeping peacefully to Daiki's right. He watched as the blanket above him rose and fell rhythmically.

Managing to calm down after a minute of watching Masaru being fine, the boy settled into his place between Daiki and Daitaro, closed his eyes and hoped not to return to that nightmare anymore.

Hours later, the children woke up to the sound of the alarm that Daitaro was in charge of setting before going to sleep. Oddly enough, Daiki always got up long before the alarm went off, it didn’t make much sense to him but he believed that some sort of apprehension of hearing the alarm go off forced him to wake up.

He really hated the alarm clock, but, he believed it served its purpose... Although his brothers didn't seem to have a problem ignoring it..., or maybe it was a competition to see who could ignore it the longest? Not knowing what they intended, Daiki just thought it was stupid.

"Hey... Get dressed already or we'll be late" Daiki said “You’re not even asleep anymore."

"..." His brothers just 'snored' loudly in response. The red-eyed one sighed.

"Everyone here knows that the only one capable of sleeping with the alarm going off is Daitaro" Daiki said as he placed his hands on the mattress. "Masaru, if you keep pretending to sleep you won't manage to cook anything..., although well, I guess it's dumb to believe that you'd get up for-"

"Ah, that's true!” Masaru shouted as he automatically sat up and looked at his brother. "I want to make breakfast, is there still time?"

"Do you really think I'd let Daitaro be late for school?" asked Daiki as he arched an eyebrow in disbelief. "Of course there's still time."

"Alright, then I’ll leave waking Daitaro up to you... If you can that is" Masaru said before hurrying out of the room. The red-haired stared in his direction.

"I can't believe that was enough motivation for him to get out of bed... Masaru sure is weird."

"Daiki."

"What do you want?"

"I understand you want Daitaro to wake up but you know the alarm isn't doing its job... So just turn it off already, will you?" Mitsuru looked disgruntled but didn't seem to have the energy to try to do that himself.

"And why don't you do it? That way you’ll get up."

“Can't you see your twin is in the way?" The blond pointed at Daitaro who looked very peaceful despite the noise of the alarm.

"There's plenty of room for you to get out of bed."

"Daiki, just turn that thing off already" Mitsuru looked angrier as the seconds ticked by.

"Will you get up as soon as I do?"

"If you do I'll wake Daitaro up for you this time."

"What?... But you're not going to-"

"Daiki!"

"Okay, okay..." the red-haired walked over to the alarm and immediately turned it off. Mitsuru looked between tired and annoyed at Daiki.

“So? How hard was that? From us four you're the one who hates noise the most so I don't know how you can stand the fuss of the alarm."

"I don't, I just stop listening to it."

"Huh?... That doesn't make sense..." Mitsuru thought about this for a moment before deciding it was too early to try to understand.

"Anyway, that doesn't matter, how do you plan to wake Daitaro up? It's really-"

Daiki went silent as he watched Mitsuru kneel down on the bed to then push Daitaro out of bed, who immediately woke up after the blow.

"You were saying?" Mitsuru gave him a cocky grin.

"Anyone would wake up if they were thrown out of bed, you idiot..." Daiki looked down at his twin on the floor, he had settled himself so that he was sitting up while rubbing his head.

"Ow..., Mitsuru..." Daitaro muttered in annoyance as he knew beforehand the reason for him being on the floor. He stood up and looked at his brother reproachfully.

"What, no one would throw you out of bed if it was easy to wake you up" the blond explained believing it was a reasonable justification. "I find it hard to even believe that you get up fast during the night when it's almost impossible to wake you up in the morning with normal methods."

"Haha..., I don't think you'd be amused if I threw you out of bed next time" the redhead replied as he crossed his arms. He could be nice a lot of the time, but it was impossible not to be in a bad mood after ending up on the floor.

"You're free to try, ‘if you can’t take the heat, then don’t light the fuse'.. That's what I think" Mitsuru said before smiling pityingly at him. "Though I highly doubt you have the heart to throw me out the same way."