“Jake, why are we here?”
I glanced over at Emily. I couldn’t help but notice the way her hair flowed back with the slight breeze. I laid back and stared up into the sky, pondering out loud.
“Why are we here? Have we been put here to make a difference in the world? Do we have some fate already laid out for us? Is there some higher being watching over us? I don’t know, but I think about it a lot.” I looked back to Emily, who was obviously holding back laughter. I could feel my cheeks turn red.
“What, did I say something funny?” I asked.
“Jake, I meant why are we up here on the roof? I’m pretty sure it’s against school regulations.” I turned away to hide my embarrassment.
“Oh, um, I dunno, I just kinda like it up here. I can forget all of my problems when up here, it’s peaceful. You don’t have to stay up here with me if you don’t want to.”
“No, I’d much rather be up here with you than alone down in the cafeteria.” Emily pulled out a flyer for a manga contest. “I found this on the way to school this morning, you should enter.”
“Nah, there’s really no point, I’ll just fail anyway.”
“Fine, but take it anyway, you still have six months to change your mind and submit something.” She forcefully put the flyer in my backpack. “You can't succeed if you never even try.”
I got home late that day, I saw my parents called, but didn’t really feel like listening to the voicemail. I went straight to my room and collapsed on my bed. I pulled out the flyer from earlier. Like I would actually enter this with the crap I make. I crumpled up the flyer and tossed it towards my desk.
I didn’t have school the next day, so I slept in until I was woken up at around 10:00. I continued to lay in bed for a moment before I remembered I lived alone. I jumped back. A boy about my age was standing at the side of my bed. He was a bit taller than me, and with short hair. He was also American, just like me. There weren’t many Americans here in Japan, so I was a bit confused at his presence.
“Who are you?” I asked.
He looked confused “I’m your cousin, Eric. Did your parents not tell you I was coming?”
I remembered the call the day before. I never checked the message. I rushed over to the phone to see if he was telling the truth. I listened to the message from the previous night.
“Hey, Jake! Umm, listen, your, uh, cousin, Eric, is going to move in with you starting tomorrow morning. B-b-be sure to welcome him nicely!” Of course, my parents traveled way too much to be able to keep me with them everywhere they went, let alone him, so I was going to look after him. Well, living alone was peaceful while it lasted. I looked at him and noticed he had a leather glove on his right hand. There was probably a new trend in America had spawned while I was in Japan. I showed Eric to his room.
As soon as I was finished showing Eric around, I locked myself in my room for the day. I flattened out the flyer for the contest and inspected it. Maybe if I didn’t suck so much at writing, then I could consider this. I took one last look and threw it away. He walked away. I pulled out a manga that I had been working on for a couple months.It was a cliche story about a guy who meets a girl who turns out to be a werewolf and then they fall in love. Complete garbage. If I had a fireplace, I would have just burned it. I sat there for a few hours trying to think of a plot that was actually original. I heard sirens a few blocks away, which was quite common actually. Eric knocked on my door. I got up and answered him.
“Yeah?” I questioned impatiently.
“Um, theres a lot of crime around here, isn’t there?”
“Sure, I guess, what’s your point?”
“I see. Just curious. Oh one more thing,” he glanced at my desk “When you finish that manga, can I read it? I actually happen to like that kind of stuff. I read it a lot back home.” He walked away.
I was lost in my own world until I heard the front door open and close. I looked at the clock. 8:15 PM. I remembered Eric. I figured he was taking out the trash. I hadn’t bothered to take it out myself for the whole week, so I could see why it might bother him. The next morning Eric woke me up with breakfast. Apparently he cooked it for me while I was asleep.Though none of the food on the table was stuff I already had. He must have gone shopping last night. I pulled out my wallet and began to hand hin 400¥. He pushed my hand back and shook his head.
“My treat.” he said. I turned on the TV. Immediately I saw a news report. A group of gangsters had burned to death the night before by some freak accident. Eric ran outside.
“I gotta get some air,” I could barely hear him mutter. I cleaned up the dishes and turned some anime on. The rest of the day passed normally
I got up early the next morning for school. I let Eric sleep in since he didn’t have school. It would be a few years before he learned the language and culture of Japan, unless he was like Emily, then he’d learn in less than six months. I zoned during most of Mr. Himezawa’s class, waiting for lunch. I didn’t really need to pay attention, this would be my last year of highschool, and I freaked out some much over the summer that I ended up studying everything I would learn this year. Unlikely, I know, but don’t doubt the power of a highschool student under pressure. The bell finally rang. When I got to the school roof to eat, Emily was already there. She stood up and grabbed my arm.
“Did you hear about the murders these past couple days?!” she asked excitedly.
“Murders?”
“Yeah, over two nights, seven criminals were burnt to death!”
“Well, I wouldn’t really call those murders, just freak accidents.”
“No, they were definitely murders. Freak accidents don’t happen two nights in a row to the same group of criminals. Somebody is doing this.”
“Emily, I dont even see how that’s possible. The only way would be if the perpetrator had, like, a flamethrower or something. And those are almost impossible to get here.”
“But what if it wasn’t? What if somebody has some kind of special ability or something!”
“Ok, you know that isn’t possible. And, why is that the first thing you think about this?”
“But what if it is? It could be a vigilante esper! He is only targeting criminals.”
“Whatever, just keep dreaming.” The bell rung, lunch was over. I looked down. I had barely even touched my food. I’ll just eat it later.
Over the next two months, there were many more criminal deaths. They were all by the same cause. Every morning burnt bodies were found, only recognised as criminals and gang members by what they were wearing. I began to believe Emily’s theory after a week of it, and now I was sure she was right. It was really getting to me. If she was right, we didn’t really understand our world at all. Normally, I didn’t let anything bother me, but this was seriously freaking me out.
I eventually made the inevitable connection. Eric had moved in the same night this started, and every night I would hear the front door open and close. It was very unlikely that he actually needed to go out for some reason every single night. I needed to do something, I obviously couldn’t keep living with Eric if he really was a murderer. But was what he was doing really wrong? He was only killing criminals. Maybe what he’s been doing is justified. This would make an awesome plot. I shook my head. No, it doesn’t matter what they’ve done, taking another person’s life is just immoral.
That night, I decided to follow him when he left. He just walked around for over an hour until he found a group of thugs laughing at and beating up some college student. Eric walked directly towards them. No, please, just let me be wrong. I couldn’t get close enough to get a good look at what was going on. All I saw was Eric removing his glove. I could faintly hear him speak.
“You have committed an evil act, it’s only natural that you should be punished with a greater evil.” I ran back home before I could see anything else, looking back only to see a bright light emitting from the alleyway.
I wasn’t able to sleep at all that night. all I could think about was that thug burning. My cousin-No, I wasn’t even sure he was my cousin at this point. I needed to confront him somehow. The next morning I made up my mind. I would confront him as soon as he woke up. I waited in the kitchen for him to come out.
Now he’s in front of me, and I can’t figure out what to say. I let the words flow out.
“I know your secret, Eric.”
“What secret might you be referring to?”
“You know.”
“Enlighten me.”
“Fine. You’re the murderer who’s been killing criminals since you got here. Your parents are innocent, aren’t they? You’re the one who committed the crimes that got them locked up”
“What makes you think that?”
“ I followed you last night. I saw you burn a man to death, right after you took off your glove.”
I hear a knock at the door. That’s right, I invited Emily to go out to breakfast. I began to move to the door. I stopped when I realised that I would be putting Emily in danger if I let her in. This situation was bad enough as it is. I turned away from the door.
“Good choice,” Eric says, “Hmm, Well, I really don’t want to kill you, I’ve actually grown rather fond of you. I guess I have no choice.” He takes off his glove.
“Wait, what are you doing?” He touches my forehead.
“No, please, don’t do this” Im holding back tears. His hand is burning my flesh.He speaks again in a cold, merciless tone that sends a chill down my spine.
“Burn to ashes.” The world went black.