Chapter 9: The Sound That Echoed
The night was still.
Too still.
Katsumi sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the floor like it held the answers.
His fingers trembled on his knees.
The soft glow of his desk lamp painted his room in a lonely hue, throwing shadows that felt deeper than the walls allowed.
His thoughts spun in circles.
If I accept… the abuse ends.
If I decline… it continues.
Would transferring fix anything? Would they just call me a coward? Would she follow me there, too?
Nothing made sense.
Everything hurt.
His body still ached from the beating.
But that wasn't what hurt the most.
It was the silence. The emptiness. The feeling of being cornered.
Trapped between a lie and a monster wearing the mask of love.
He clenched his fists.
Then—his eyes drifted to the corner of his room.
The old wooden wardrobe.
And a memory.
His grandpa's laugh.
"Boy like you needs to know how to survive. For hunting. For protection. Take good care of it."
Katsumi stood up, almost like he wasn't in his own body.
He walked across the room and opened the wardrobe.
And there, wrapped in old cloth and tucked inside a lockbox, was the magnum revolver.
Heavy.
Cold.
Real.
He took it out slowly, his reflection warping in the polished metal.
His mind was a storm.
Not crying.
Not screaming.
Just… quiet.
The kind of quiet that comes after breaking.
He sat back on the bed, holding the gun in his lap.
He stared at it for a long time.
Minutes passed. Maybe hours. He didn't know.
His breathing was steady.
His hands, not shaking anymore.
No thoughts. Just a single, heavy feeling.
From outside the house, in the dead silence of the night—
A loud bang shattered the air.
A single echo that rang far, far too long.