Even if it Kills Me

*Aoi's POV*

“Are you okay?” Uruha asked me.

I nodded.

“Much better, now.” I replied. I had finally made it through withdrawal. It was tough, but I did it. I did it for the band, but mostly, for Haruka.

“I really am sorry abou-“

I cut him off. “I’m the one who did all of this. You have nothing to be sorry for. If it was the other way around, I would’ve hit me, too.” I laughed.

Uruha cracked a smile, and handed me an envelope with nothing but my name on it. “This was in the mailbox,” he told me.

I took it, and slid my finger under the flap.

My heart stopped. I tensed up. Uruha must have sensed something was wrong, so he read the letter over my shoulder.


Yuu Shiroyama,

We have Haruka Takashima in our custody.
You shouldn’t have messed up, lover boy!
We are in the Yakuza, and we show no mercy to those who don’t make good on their deals!
So, we took something precious from you.
You have one week to take her place. If you fail to come to us, she will be killed without mercy.
She and I have unfinished business to carry out.
I guess you could call it a “family” thing. Her brother screwed up long before you did.
Poor girl.
If you call the police, we will immediately kill her.
You better hope you can make it in time, lover boy.

Ikuto Oita and Kameko Tamagawa


“Damn him!” Uruha yelled.

“Haruka…” I whispered. It was all my fault!

“I knew Aiji shouldn’t have associated with them. Now it all makes sense…” Uruha muttered, slapping his forehead and pulling at his hair in obvious distress.

“What?” I asked, shocked.

“Aiji was dating Kameko when he died. She wasn’t a virtuous girl, and easily grew jealous of the affection Aiji gave Haruka. She didn’t like that he paid more attention to his nine-year old sister than to his girlfriend. She cheated on him with his friend, Ikuto. Ikuto…was a horrible boy and friend.”Uruha swallowed hard, and gripped the hem of his pants tightly.

“He…tried to mess with Haruka. Aiji didn’t know, until one day, he caught Ikuto. He had forced her to take her clothes off.” Uruha was crying at this point. I found that my eyes were also full of tears threatening to spill over.

“He didn’t get far when Aiji caught him. After that, Aiji talked to me about it. He made me promise to take care of Haruka if anything happened to him. I agreed, of course. I never let her out of my sight unless she was with Aiji. One day, Aiji and Kameko took a few friends to go swimming. Kameko invited Ikuto without telling Aiji. I was there. Haruka was with her mother. Ikuto drowned Aiji. I watched it happen. I tried to save him, almost drowning myself in the process. I couldn’t save my older cousin, but I could protect the younger one from the truth. I never told Haruka that Ikuto killed her brother. I never told my parents or the police. Why would they believe me, anyway?!”

Uruha and I were both sobbing at this point. We tried to comfort each other, but only made a scene. Ruki, Kai, and Reita were at the door.

“Miyavi called…”Reita started.

“She’s gone…” I finished for him.

“No one even knew she had left,” he confirmed.

“What’s that?” Kai asked, taking the letter.

We filled in the rest of the band on the severity of the situation.

“Maybe Miyavi can help us,” Ruki suggested, desperately. He dashed to the phone and explained the situation to Miyavi.

I don’t know how, but I took off running. I ran down the stairs and outside, yanking car keys from my pocket.

“Where are you going?” Uruha demanded. I didn’t even realize he had followed me.

“To take her place,” I said, like it was an ordinary occurrence.

“I’ll go with you!”

I didn’t protest. He would go with or without me. He wouldn’t stop until his job was done.

“Get in.” I commanded.

He did, and I quickly started the car and took off.