Chapter 4 The Empty Bunk
Chapter 4 The Empty Bunk
“Sometimes I wonder—if I had gone earlier that day and stayed with them, maybe we could still all be together… or at least I could have protected them from whatever happened. Maybe I could have jumped in and shielded them, buying them time to escape. I wouldn’t have cared what happened to me, as long as they were safe.”
“The only thing that gave me a sliver of hope was knowing they were together, wherever they were.”
The days passed, and nothing changed.
I kept waking up in the middle of the night. Every time, I did the same thing—I sat up and checked the top bunk, hoping he’d be there. Then I would collapse back into bed, trembling.
“Kota… Kei…” I whispered, sobbing.
I went to school drained of energy, feeling like I was slowly fading away. Every day, I expected to come home and find them there—both of them together, like always.
But days turned into weeks.
Weeks turned into months.
Before I realized it, the year was ending.
Christmas came. Our home was decorated, my dad and mom trying their best to look cheerful, to pretend everything was normal. They gave me a new game for my console—Smasher Maiden DX, the next installment in the series. I tried to show happiness, but I couldn’t.
I just sat there, holding the game in my hands, thinking, Kota would have liked this one.
Tears shimmered in my eyes before falling freely.
My parents broke down too. They pulled me into their arms, crying loudly with me, holding me tight.
Something vital was missing from our hearts.
Then the news came.
The police had found something.
A detective arrived.
“Let the children remain outside, please,” he said quietly.
Ale and I weren’t allowed into the room.
My chest felt unbearably heavy. I looked at her—she felt the same. She curled into herself and dropped to the ground, crouching as her voice broke.
“Kei… where are you…? Kota…”
Without saying a word, I took her hand.
“Come with me, Ale Onee-chan,” I whispered.
We moved around to the window and strained to listen.
What we heard wasn’t good.
At the edge of the city, near a river, there was a small hut. A terrible smell had caught the attention of a passerby, prompting a police investigation. Inside, they found remains sealed in a barrel—horribly decomposed, unrecognizable, but unmistakably human.
It wasn’t them.
The remains belonged to a little girl who had gone missing years earlier. The discovery was linked to a series of child disappearances from another city.
Even so, our faces darkened as the detective continued speaking.
Then he placed something on the table.
It had been found near the site. There was no mistaking it.
A small clay figurine.
A rough, uneven figure of a man dressed in black—clearly made by a child.
It wasn’t Kota’s.
It was Kei’s.
That was when everything broke.
We burst into the room.
Ale threw herself forward, grabbing the figurine with both hands.
“Waaah… Kei—where are they?!” she screamed.
“No! They’re alive! Where is my brother?! Where is Kei—where is Kota?!”
She thrashed wildly as her father and my dad tried to hold her back.
She cried uncontrollably.
And I cried too—crushed by fear and uncertainty, wondering what kind of fate awaited them.
Since that day, the nightmares never stopped.
Again and again, I dream we’re all at the park—Ale, Kota, Kei, and me. We’re laughing, running, smiling. Kota and Kei play happily with their clay figurines.
Then I turn around.
They’re gone.
Everything turns black.
I run, calling their names.
“Kota—Kei—where are you? Don’t go… I—I’m sorry I wasn’t there…”
I see a hut near a river.
I rush toward it and kick the door open.
Inside, the place feels wrong—somber, ugly, suffocating.
“Where are you?” I call out, my voice shaking.
Then I see it.
A barrel.
My legs tremble as I walk closer.
I reach out.
I open the lid—
And there they are.
Both boys, hugging each other.
Eyes open.
Lifeless.
Both still clutching their figurines.
I wake up screaming.
“Ahhh—!”
My body trembles in the middle of the night, my face soaked with sweat and tears. I look around—I’m in our room. Kota’s and mine.
I scramble to the top bunk.
“Kota!”
The bed is still empty. The sheets are neat and clean—no one has slept there in a long time.
My eyes fill with tears.
“Ahhh… waaah… Kota… where is my brother…? I’m sorry… Kota… Kei…”
Life after that became colorless—like someone had snuffed the light out of the world.
At school, I barely spoke. I hunched over my desk and did the bare minimum. My classmates and teachers offered kind words, but without my little brothers, they felt hollow.
I felt like I was slowly dying.
I hadn’t talked to Ale Onee-chan in over a week. I wanted to give her space… and I thought I needed some too...
One day after school, I went to her house.
My mom had found out through her mother that things had gotten worse.
Recently, Ale had stopped going to school altogether.
She lay on her bed, staring blankly at Kei’s toy figurine.
I knelt beside the bed and rested my head against it. She turned away from me. My face trembled with worry—I wasn’t the only one deeply suffering.
I looked at her back, her shoulders shuddering. I had always thought she was the strongest. She was always smiling, always cheerful, always acting protective.
But right now… she was like this.
Seeing her in that state made my chest ache.
I moved closer—lying beside her, wrapping my arms around her from behind, resting my head on her shoulder. We stayed like that in silence.
“Everything is going to be okay…” I whispered.
It was the only thing I could think to say.
I need to be strong for her. I need to comfort her.
The next day, I did the same thing—I went to Ale Onee-chan’s house again.
Greeting her mom, Alessia, “Hello… is Ale home?”
She was busy with house chores.
“Thanks for coming, Iryoku, amore… she’s in her room,” she said.
Just as I was about to move, she suddenly hugged me from behind.
“I’m sorry, little one… don’t mind me.”
She let me go, quickly wiping away the tears shimmering in her eyes.
I went to Ale’s room. This time, she was sitting on the bed, the TV playing some action movie. The screen flashed with explosions and noise, but she barely reacted when I entered.
I sat beside her, lifted my arm, and gently pulled her close. She leaned against my shoulder, but she didn’t turn to meet my eyes.
I was happy for the closeness… but at what cost?
Finally, I spoke. “Ale Onee-chan…”
I turned and looked directly into her eyes. Her face trembled, but she held my gaze.
“You need to go back to school. You need to stay strong—for when… the boys come back. I know they’ll return. After all, they’re together. We just have to wait for them.”
Her eyes shifted, filling with pain.
“It hurts so much… I’m sorry… it’s my fault. If only I had been with them back then,” she whispered.
I hugged her tighter, even as my own eyes burned, begging to cry.
“…It’s not your fault. Never think like that. I was late as well…” I said, looking into her eyes.
Suddenly, she pulled me back onto the bed, and this time she hugged me tightly. My heart pounded so hard I thought it might burst. She embraced me from behind, and the difference in our size became clear—her body pressed against mine, bigger, stronger, and voluptuous.
Her lips were close to my ear, her breath trembling.
“Please… let me stay like this,” she whispered softly.
Another time, I went to Ale’s house again.
This time, her father, Gosei, was there.
He looked like he had just arrived home.
“Thank you for always coming to keep her company, Iryoku—son,” he said. His eyes were heavy with exhaustion. The tall, broad-shouldered man looked completely worn down. He ruffled my hair and smiled.
“If you ever need anything… maybe later we could go out to eat,” he added after a pause. “You could come with us. We’ll eat whatever you want.”
His voice strained for just a moment.
I nodded. “Sure.”
Then I went upstairs.
I knocked gently on her door.
This time, her voice answered. “Come in.”
I stepped inside—and froze.
She was still in her school uniform, caught halfway through pulling off her shirt. A black sports bra hugged her chest, those two huge, perfect spheres suddenly filling my vision hitting me like a wave.
“Ah—sorry!” I blurted, spinning around so fast I nearly stumbled. My face burned, every muscle in my body going rigid.
“It’s fine. I’ll change soon… stay, Iryoku,” she said calmly.
The soft rustle of her clothes behind me only made my heart race faster. I forced myself to breathe, trying to calm down.
“You… went to school?” I asked nervously.
“Yes,” she replied firmly. “You were right. I can’t keep acting like a crybaby. I’m done.”
When I finally turned back, Ale was dressed in her usual boyish clothes. Her expression looked resolved—like she had found some new strength. It made me feel relieved.
But then I noticed a small graze on her cheek.
Without thinking, I stepped closer and gently touched it.
“You’re hurt. What happened?” I asked.
She smiled faintly. “It’s nothing.”
Before I could say anything else, she suddenly pulled me into an embrace.
My face sank straight into her chest.
My little friend reacted instantly, but that wasn’t what overwhelmed me. It was the warmth, the softness pressing against me, the steady beat of her heart. Her scent—clean, faintly sweet—filled my lungs, and I almost shuddered with happiness. It felt like being wrapped in an ocean of love and reassurance.
She guided me down onto the bed with her, still holding me close.
We stayed like that in silence for what felt like forever.
I felt like I was floating on clouds.
Every instinct screamed at me to move closer—to press myself against her, to let my hands roam her curves, to kiss her, to grope, to take everything those ecchi romance shows always made look so easy.
This was the moment. The perfect opportunity.
She wouldn’t say no, right?
I wanted to say the words. To tell her everything. To ask if we could be more than this—to do everything, to let it all loose.
But deep down, I knew I didn’t deserve it.
What are you thinking? I scolded myself. She’s being genuine right now, and you’re turning it into something dirty.
I felt despicable—lusting after her when she was vulnerable, ready to take advantage of the moment.
So I stayed still.
I never said anything.
Nothing about being a couple.
Nothing about love.
I never went beyond that embrace. My hands stayed exactly where they were—safe, careful, reverent—never sliding lower, never groping, never taking more than she was freely giving. I loved her too much.
I would rather have burned than twist her comfort into something selfish.
So I just held her, let her hold me, and kept every selfish impulse locked away where it couldn’t reach her.
Even when we went outside, we stayed together—returning to the park, to the same places we used to share with Kota and Kei.
Now it was just us. We embraced quietly, me being careful never to make her uncomfortable.
That day, we sat beneath the old tree in the park. Her back rested against the trunk, her arms wrapped around me from behind. We didn’t speak much—we didn’t need to. The silence felt heavy, but warm.
“Soon I’ll be entering your school, Ale Onee-chan,” I said, turning my head toward her. For a moment, I thought I felt her body stiffen—but maybe it was just my imagination.
“Are you sure you want to go to the same place as me?” she asked softly.
“I want to be close to you…” That was all I could manage to say.