Niche’s Room, After School, Present

  Ryota shows up at Niche's house uninvited. Pounds on the door until Niche opens it.

  "You killed her." Ryota's shaking. "You actually killed his mom."

  "Come in before someone hears you."

  Ryota follows him to his room. "How? You were at school. We were together—"

  "Time crystal." Niche pulls it out. "Went back this morning. Route 9. She always texts while driving." His voice is casual, like discussing homework. "Just had to put a couple obstacles in the right place at the right moment."

  ????????????????"You're talking about murder like it's—"

  "Like it's what? Justice?" Niche sets the crystal down. "Tell me, Ryota. Your sister. You still think about her?"

  Ryota goes rigid. "How do you - What does that have to do with—"

  "Everything." Niche creates a small flame, watches it dance. "Home invasion. You were twelve. Hiding while she died."

  "Stop."

  "But here's what's interesting. The guy they never caught? He had a Genuip High class ring."

  Ryota's face changes. "What?"

  "Same year as Chigan. Same build. Same laugh." Niche lets that sink in. "You never wondered why Chigan always seemed to enjoy making you suffer? Not just all the other juniors, but specifically you?"

  "You're lying."

  "Am I? Remember freshman year, when he 'accidentally' mentioned your sister during that presentation? Watched your face the whole time?"

  Ryota's breathing faster now. Remembering.

  "That's... no. The police said—"

  "The police whose chief golfs with Chigan's father every weekend?" Niche leans forward for dramatic effect. "Come on. You always knew something was off. Why they never found anyone."

  "But he would've been fourteen—"

  "So? Some people are born broken." The flame in Niche's hand flickers. "And today, he killed his own mother with his pride. What makes you think he wouldn't have killed your sister for fun?"

  Silence. Ryota's shaking now, but it's different. Rage, not fear.

  "You gave me power over him."

  "I gave you justice."

  "I could make him confess."

  "You could make him do anything." Niche watches carefully. "His car. His money. His life. All yours now."

  "That's..." Ryota stops, thinking about the power he holds.

  "Wrong? Like what he did to your sister?" Niche extinguishes the flame. "Here's the truth: I need someone who understands that sometimes, wrong is necessary."

  Another pause. When Ryota speaks, his voice is cold. "What do you want me to do?"

  "Nothing." Niche's smile is thin. "That's the beauty of it."

  "What?"

  "He killed his own mother with his pride. Now he has to live with that. And every day, he'll see you: the one person who knows exactly how weak he is." Niche watches understanding dawn on Ryota's face. "He'll want to hurt you. Blame you. But he can't. He's too afraid."

  "So he just…suffers?"

  "Drowns in it. Day after day. While you go about your life." Niche shrugs. "Sometimes the cruelest thing is letting someone destroy themselves."

  Ryota stares at him, something dark settling behind his eyes.

  "That's justice. The kind your sister never got." Niche says.

  Ryota's breathing slower now, collecting his thoughts and neutralizing them. “How did you get him to break that easily? Chigan always plays hard to get. Doesn't seem attached to anything, even if his mom died. People like him don’t really care about others."

  "Well, it all comes down to human nature. People, as different as they might try to seem, are still animals. In order to invoke a reaction that contradicts their natural behavior, you have to play with the one thing they can't control: their instincts."

  "What instincts? The guy doesn't care about—"

  "His mother. Two weeks ago, I started making sure she talked more to him about deeper things. Strengthened their bond." Niche's voice is clinical. "He kept pushing her away, but that consistent presence became something he unconsciously relied on. The stability of her always being there to reject. Then, I made little ‘traumas’ they would go through together. Small events that, when they overcame, grew their connection. It was honestly way more work than I wanted to spend on anything, but it’s worth it now, right?”

  "That's... calculated."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Yesterday morning, I had her text him that she was proud of him. First genuine affection in years. He actually smiled. Then, I took her away. Right when he realized he needed that validation."

  "You planned his psychological dependency?"

  "People don't notice when you're building their cages. They only notice when the door locks."

  The flame goes out. "Now he's broken. Permanently. And you, my friend," Niche points at Ryota, “are the person he now depends on.”

  “Me? How the hell does that work?”

  “Well, I told you before how shared trauma connects people. Interestingly enough, it barely changes when the one you experience that trauma with is the reason behind it. Meaning the whole lunch thing actually made Chigan ‘in love’ with you, at least emotionally.

  Ryota stares at him, processing this level of premeditation.

  “So,” Ryota starts, putting the pieces together. “I have to keep quiet in this, and you will give me Chigan? I still don’t understand what you benefit from any of this.”

  “Vow of silence for power.” Niche holds out his right hand. “Seems like a good deal to me.”

  Hesitantly, Ryota reaches his hand out. After they shake hands, Ryota leaves with a new darkness in his eyes.

  When Ryota is surely gone, Niche leans back in his chair. "That was easier than expected."

  "The sister memory was clever," Raizen says from the sword. "Almost believed it myself."

  "He needed a reason to embrace the power. Dead sister by mysterious killer wasn't enough. Dead sister by Chigan?" Niche chuckles. "That's motivation."

  "You realize when he finds out the truth—"

  "He won't. The memory's real to him now. You did good work. You never told me how you could do that memory manipulation stuff."

  "I simply... enhanced certain details. The mind fills in the rest." The cat stretches. "Though I am curious what actually happened to her."

  "Doesn't matter. What matters is he'll do anything I need now." Niche picks up the time crystal. "Tomorrow should be interesting."

  "You're becoming quite the monster."

  "I'm becoming what I need to be." No guilt in his voice. "Six days isn't long enough for morality."

  "Speaking of truth," Raizen says, "why didn't you tell him about Chigan’s mother?"

  "What about her?"

  “I mean the truth about what actually happened to her. Where she is now.”

  Niche leans back. "Why would I do that?"

  "Because it's the truth?"

  "Let’s see what would’ve happened if I did tell him that.”

  Fake Flashback – Niche’s Room, One Hour Ago

  Ryota follows Niche to his room. "How? You were at school. We were together—"

  “Quiet down. She’s not dead, I’ll tell you that.”

  “But…how? I saw the crash. She was DEAD. There’s no doubt about it. And you…you’re a murderer. Anyways…you couldn’t even fake a death like that. Or gotten Mrs. Mori to agree to do that. That’s even crazier. And you know that’s not what happened, because she’s DEAD.”

  “So you want to know how? How I got Chigan’s mom to disappear without killing her,” Niche begins, leaning back as he recounts the elaborate scheme. “First, I needed a convincing story that would make her act immediately without thinking too hard about inconsistencies. The story I crafted was that Chigan had been kidnapped and was being held, not for ransom, but for something worse. I had Raizen hack into the principal’s WiFi network first. From there, we accessed the principal’s computer directly - the administrative access made everything more believable. Using the principal’s official email account, I composed a message to Chigan’s mother that read something like: ‘Hello, we are currently under attack at the school. Your son and others have been taken. If you contact any police services or emergency responders, the attacker has threatened to blow up the school. All students are being held. Please contact this email for further information about retrieving your son.’ And then I embedded my burner email account at the bottom. She responded within minutes, completely panicked. ‘What do you want? Is this about money? I can pay any ransom, just please don’t hurt my son.’ That desperation was what I was counting on. But I didn’t want money. I responded from my burner account as the supposed kidnapper: ‘I don’t want your money. This isn’t about ransom. Your son has been taken to a secure location far from here. We’re coming for you next. We know where you live.’ Then, I let that sink in for a moment before sending the next part: ‘I want to eliminate the Mori bloodline once and for all. Your son is already gone; he’s been taken somewhere remote, and his name has been erased from public view. People are already forgetting he existed. But, I’ll make you a deal. If you want your son to survive, if you want him to have any chance at life, you need to disappear. Fake your own death and make it convincing. Once the Mori family legacy is effectively destroyed - once the world believes you’re both gone - I’ll ensure your son lives. He won’t know you’re alive, but he’ll be safe. If you refuse, if you try to find him, or if you contact anyone, I’ll eliminate him and then come for you. You have one hour to decide.’”

  “Now here’s the thing,” Niche pauses, making sure Ryota’s following, “the reason I specifically chose Chigan wasn’t just because of his superior position at school or his arrogance. It was because I’d been observing his family dynamic for weeks. His mother had become completely emotionally dependent on him after his father left on a work trip without telling anyone. Every struggle they went through, she leaned on him more. He was her entire world. I knew she wouldn’t be able to leave him behind unless she truly believed it was the only way to save him. So, when she inevitably responded saying she’d do anything to keep him safe, I gave her specific instructions. I told her he’d been relocated across the world and gave her an actual address, that being some remote place I’d researched. I told her that after she faked her death, she could go there and find proof he was alive, but she could never contact him or return. The beautiful part was what happened next. After lunch, I’d gotten Chigan to write a letter to his mother’s ‘grave.’ I told him I’d personally deliver it to the cemetery after her ‘death’ in the car accident, because I felt bad. His emotions had blinded him too much to the point he couldn’t see the illogical action of writing a letter to his dead mom and giving it to her murderer. He wrote this heartfelt message: ‘Hey Mom, I’m doing alright. I’m safe. I hope you’re at peace wherever you are. I miss you but I’m managing. I love you.’ Just genuine grief from a son who thinks his mother is dead. I had that letter waiting at the location I’d given her. So, when Chigan’s mom arrived at this remote place, terrified and desperate, she found her son’s handwriting, his genuine emotions, him saying he was okay without her. And reading that letter, seeing that he was ‘managing’ and ‘safe,’ she made the choice any loving parent would make; she stayed away. She loved him too much to risk his life by returning.”

  “The truth is,” Niche concludes with a dark smile, “I could’ve just had Raizen manipulate some traffic cameras and fake a car crash. Would’ve been simpler, cleaner. But this? Making her choose to abandon him out of love, making him grieve a mother who’s actually alive, creating all this elaborate emotional manipulation? This seemed a lot more fun.”

  “So then, you’re a psychopath. You could’ve chosen an easier path, but you didn’t for…fun? How do I know you’re not manipulating me now, huh? What if I’m part of your sick game? I know I don’t want to be, so, I’m sorry, Niche, but I have to go,” Ryota says, sniffling.

  Niche’s Room, Present

  “See why I couldn’t have told him the truth, Raizen? Truth doesn't build loyalty. Shared secrets do." Niche's voice is calculating. "Ryota thinks we share knowledge of a murder. That guilt, that complicity; it binds him to me.

  "You've thought this through."

  "I have seven days. I can't afford loose ends." Niche stands. "Besides, relationships forged in trauma are the strongest. Ryota will never betray someone he thinks helped him cover up a murder. Even if I’m the one behind all the actions, he still feels as though he was the murderer."

  "Even though no murder occurred."

  "Especially because none occurred. The best lies are the ones people tell themselves."