Chapter Text
Knock Knock.
Rin sat folded in on himself on the couch. The house feels maddeningly empty in the night, and it’s slowly driving him crazy. Rin wasn’t the type to be affected by isolation. Hell, he often isolated himself from others simply because he wanted to. But this was different. He didn’t choose for this isolation. He didn’t want this.
Knock Knock Knock.
The knocking came again, more desperate this time. It grated on Rin’s nerves. Every night, people came knocking on his door, asking to come inside. As if he’d let strangers in his house. He knew better. Sae had told him not to open the door for strangers when they were young.
Sae..
Rin wondered where Sae was. He certainly wasn’t in Japan, so he must be hiding somewhere in Spain. Was this even happening in Spain, or was this crisis solely happening in Japan? For the first time in a while, Rin felt himself longing for the grounding presence of his brother.
Knock Knock Knock.
Rin was snapped out of his thoughts by the persistent knocking on his door. He finally made his way to the door, straightening up off the couch before leaving the living room. After a couple of seconds, and a few more obnoxious knocks on his door, Rin arrived at the front door. ‘’What do you want.’’ Rin snapped, glaring through the peephole. He scanned outside, seeing an unfamiliar face. A middle aged man with a frightened face was trembling on his porch. The man looked startled by Rin’s voice, frozen for a second before speaking up. ‘’I- uh… please let me in!’’ The man stammered out, a look of worry etched on his features. His wrinkly face scrunched up as his eyebrows furrowed.
‘’No. I don’t know you. Get lost.’’ Rin answered coldly, ready to turn around and make his way back to the living room. He was stopped by the frantic voice of the man.
‘’You have to let me in, man! Or else they’ll get me!’’ The man whimpered. It was pathetic, really. A grown man cowering in fear, begging for a teenager to lend him refuge in his house. If the circumstances were any different, Rin would’ve called the police. Rin had learned quickly that he couldn’t reach the police anymore ever since the first time a stranger came knocking on his door. He had tried calling the police, they hadn’t even picked up. Rin had been weirded out then. After hearing the news on the radio, explaining about visitors and the dangers of going outside at night and it being far too hot to go out during the day, he came to the conclusion that the police wasn’t coming to help him. The only people that might help him were those weird guys in hazmat suits. FEMA, or something.
Rin didn’t remember. Hadn’t bothered to. All he knew was that the people in hazmat suits had taken his parents with the promise of bringing them back soon. Rin wasn’t very convinced that they were bringing his parents back.
Rin sighed, staring through the peephole at the man. ‘’Not my problem. Go away.’’ He finally spat. He walked back to the living room. He heard the helpless shouting of the man outside, but blocked it out. His hand rested on the handle of the living room door, pushing it down, but not opening it just yet.
Maybe I should head to bed.
Sleeping was probably for the best. It would give Rin some much needed rest, even if he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to sleep with all the thoughts running through his head.
The handle of the door made a soft clinking noise as Rin let it go. He made his way to the bathroom instead. He opened the door to the cramped space and stepped inside, letting out a sigh as he closed the door behind him. Staring into the mirror, he caught his own gaze. His teal eyes were void of light as he stared himself down.
Leaning closer to the mirror, Rin pried his own mouth open, inspecting his teeth. They were white, clean. Too clean.. That would’ve been great if it wasn’t for the fact that white teeth were signs of being a visitor. Rin brushed it off. He had always cared about hygiene, dental hygiene specifically. Sae always told him to brush his teeth thoroughly, especially after eating those sweet popsicles. Rin closed his mouth, grinding his teeth together slightly. A habit he picked up some time ago. The grinding made a barely audible noise, but it irritated Rin’s ears nonetheless. Next, Rin checked his fingers. More specifically, his nails. They were clean, filed down neatly. Good. That was good. The radio told him that dirty hands were signs of being a visitor.
The toothbrush Rin grabbed was raggedy. The ends of the bristles were frayed slightly and there was some lingering toothpaste stuck between the base of the strands. Rin would’ve bought a new one ages ago, but it was too unsafe to go outside. A glob of toothpaste was squeezed onto the tufts of the brush. Rin shoved the slender plastic into his mouth and scrubbed his teeth of any filth. When he spat the foamed up toothpaste out, it had turned a slight pink. Rin ran his tongue over his gums, tasting the faintest hint of iron. He spat once more, a splat of blood now staining the white porcelain.
Shit.
He rinsed the blood off with water and left the bathroom after, making a beeline for his bedroom.
Sleep never came easy for Rin. He tossed and turned in his bed, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling while wishing he could just fall asleep. His stupid mind kept wandering everywhere instead of relaxing.
But how could Rin possibly relax after being holed up in his house, all on his own, for weeks. His patience was starting to waver little by little. Even someone like Rin craved human interaction sometimes. Real human interaction. Not just telling the people knocking at his door to go away. He longed to talk with someone, have a proper conversation about something as mundane as the weather.
But that wasn’t possible if he kept everyone shut out of his house.
Whatever. Rin could worry about that tomorrow. It didn’t seem like there were any others coming to his house tonight, so Rin pulled the covers over his body and shifted to lie on his side. He shut his eyes, twitching slightly. He stayed like this for a solid few minutes until his body finally succumbed to slumber.
_____________
His room was dark when Rin was disturbed by the sounds of voices talking. He had been reading his book peacefully moments before, the paper illuminated by a crappy little lamp on his bedside table.
He put his novel face down on his bed and padded toward the closed door of his room, his movements sluggish while still half asleep. Rin popped his head around the corner of the doorway, scanning the dark hallway.
A familiar figure was standing in front of the entrance of the house. It was Rin’s father. He was discussing something with someone who supposedly stood outside.
Rin’s eyes narrowed, walking out of his room towards his father, who had yet to notice him. Rin made no effort to make his presence known. Instead, he made his way to the living room, where he knew his mother was.
‘’Who is dad talking to?’’ He asked, as if his mother had any idea.
His mother, who was seated on the couch, turned her face toward him. ‘’I have no idea.’’ She replied.
Ever since Sae left, Rin had gotten less and less close with his parents. He knew he was always a difficult child, breaking things and hurting himself. At least when Sae was around, he took the blame for Rin’s mistakes.
His relationship with his parents worsened even further when Sae returned from Spain. Sae giving up on his dreams of being the best striker in the world had left Rin without purpose, without a goal to pursue. He couldn’t strive to be the second best anymore, so he changed his goal to something else. A goal that sprouted from pure resentment. To utterly destroy his older brother. Rin’s newfound hatred for his brother hadn’t gone unnoticed by his parents. It resulted in even more arguments, more scolding, and Rin growing more and more closed off than he already was.
Rin left the living room as quickly as he had barged in.
The moment he was back in his room, his father called for him and his mother. Rin reluctantly made his way back to the dark hallway, where his mother and father were already waiting. The front door was opened wide, revealing a tall person clad in a yellow hazmat suit, face obscured by a respirator.
A beat of silence passed before Rin glanced at his parents expectantly, a need for explanation shone in his eyes as he refused to speak up.
Who is this? Why are they clad like that? Why have you opened the door for them?
A million different questions raced through Rin’s mind, but he didn’t utter a single one of them out loud.
Rin’s father was the first to speak up. ‘’Rin, this man here is from FEMA,’’ he began, before swiftly getting cut off by the person in the hazmat suit.
‘’I’m from FEMA. We’re making house calls around your neighborhood, checking in with the residents.’’ The man held up some sort of patch, Rin assumed it was supposed to be his credentials, to show he was trustworthy. ‘’I need to take your parents. We’ll run tests to make sure they’re okay and that they can continue living in the area. We’ll bring them back to you as soon as we’re done. If we confirmed they are human, of course.’’ The officer promised. Rin took a while to process this information. On the radio, he heard about officers like this man. They supposedly researched anything regarding visitors.
‘’Why my parents?’’ Rin asked, the words slipping out of his mouth before he had the chance to catch them. It was strange. Taking both parents of a teenager away, leaving him alone in a situation like this? Shouldn’t they just take Rin instead?
‘’It’s okay, Rin. We’ll be back in a bit.’’ His father answered, a small smile on his face. Rin could see he was nervous. Despite the rocky relationship they had, he still seemed uneasy to leave his son alone during times like this. ‘’You know where the gun is, if you do ever need it. Just hold tight while we’re gone.’’
It all went so quick. Rin barely had any time to protest. His mother simply pulled him into a firm hug. Rin could feel her hands trembling slightly. She was scared, and it was glaringly obvious. Rin hesitantly returned the hug, having grown unaccustomed to gentle physical contact after denying it for so long. Surprisingly, Rin didn’t feel the need to push away. Something in his gut told him he wouldn’t see his parents for a long, long time.
_____________
Rin woke up in cold sweat. That same dream again. It had been about two weeks since his parents had been taken from him. That meant that about three weeks ago, the sun had started shining differently.
The harsh rays of light glared through the blinds, lighting up Rin’s room. Daytime was a time of peace for Rin. No one came knocking at his door, because the sun scorched anyone who went outside in this heat.
First things first. Rin turned on the crappy television near his bed. The screen flickered on, a faint static sound disturbing the silence before a man became visible on the screen. ‘’Emergency broadcast.
Wildfires are now sweeping across forested regions.’’ The man said, before the screen cut to footage of burning trees and bushes, the flames licking across the screen.
‘’Experts believe abnormally high solar activity is to blame. While the full scale of the disaster remains unclear, fire crews from nearby cities have been deployed to contain the blaze. Despite the fires, Visitors continue to terrorize the nation.’’ The man continued in the background. Rin watched the fire move across the screen, entranced by the sight of the destruction. The pixels on the screen shifted with a short glitch before showing a different image. ‘’FEMA has announced a new identifying sign to aid the public in their fight against the Visitors... Aura film photography.’’ The television showcased two images of two different men. One was surrounded by a light, pastel coloured aura, while the other was surrounded and covered by dark black spots.
‘’Dark patches appearing on a captured image is a strong indicator that the subject may be a Visitor. Stay calm, and remain indoors during daylight hours.’’ The reporter explained in the background. Rin stared at the two images for a bit.
‘’Up next: a word from our sponsors.’’ Rin turned the television off. He wasn’t interested in whatever crap people tried to sell. Instead, he made his way to the kitchen, opening the fridge. He didn’t have much. He was living off the scraps that the crazy delivery guy brought him. He had no idea why the man would deliver food and various other things in the middle of the night, especially while it was so dangerous.
Rin made a mental note to call the delivery service today. The deliveries often took a day or two to arrive, and he might run out of proper food to eat by then. Rin refused to eat any of the old stuff from the basement. That was a last resort Rin wasn’t sure he would even use.
After a scarce breakfast, Rin headed back to his room. In the corner, his soccer ball lied still on the floor. He picked it up and proceeded to the hallway. The ball was dropped to the floor as Rin dribbled it over the wooden planks of the floor. His movements were still swift and efficient, even in the cramped space of his house. It was a bummer that the sun was scorching everything and anyone outside. He would much rather play soccer on the grass in the backyard.
Rin wouldn’t even dare peek through his blinds during the daytime, terribly afraid of going blind. So he only looked outside at night.
A faint static could be heard from the other end of the hallway. The radio, one of the two only things in this house that kept Rin informed about the outside world. The other source of news being the television, of course.
Rin dribbled the ball to the little table where the radio stood. He flicked a switch and turned a button until the voice on the radio became clear.
‘’Feeling lonely? Anxious? Got no one to talk to? Then the Phone Roulette is just what you need. Call us now on 891-533, and we'll connect you with the perfect conversation partner.’’
Right. Just an ad. No useful information today. The words looped for a bit longer as Rin wrote down the number on a sticky note. He jotted the purpose of the number next to it, ‘Phone roulette.’ Like Rin would ever use that. Maybe it would come in handy someday, maybe not. Better write it down instead of regretting it later.
He hung the sticky note next to the numbers he already had. For now, he only possessed his neighbours number, the number of For Rest, the delivery service and the number of Phone Roulette.
A sigh left Rin’s lips. The continuous cycle of doing nothing but waiting for the night to come was driving Rin insane. Maybe, if someone came by this night, Rin would let them in. He had a gun, what could go wrong?
The ball was juggled atop Rin’s feet, the rhythmic sound of the ball getting kicked up and up and up entertained Rin for at least a solid twenty minutes before he moved on to kicking the ball against the wall.
Thump, Thump, Thump.
His parents would’ve scolded him for playing soccer inside, but they weren’t here. The feeling was bittersweet. He could do whatever he wanted now, without any eyes to judge him, but the absence of voices and feet shuffling over the floor gnawed at Rin. He might like being left alone, but he liked knowing someone was at least near. That wasn’t the case now. He was completely alone. All alone.
Thwack, Thwack, Thwack.
Rin kicked the ball harder against the ball, cleanly trapping it every time it bounced back. His eyebrows furrowed slightly.
Bang, Bang, Bang.
The ball violently hit the wall with each frustrated kick. Rin didn’t know why he was suddenly angry. He just was. Rin didn’t understand his emotions most of the times. He shouldn’t dwell on it so much. The ball hit Rin’s foot slightly wrong, and it flew off course against the post of the little table. The wood shook slightly and the old dial phone clattered to the ground.
The phone. Of course. Rin still had to call the delivery service. He picked the fallen dial phone off the floor and dialed in the number of the delivery service. 430-672. The phone rang for two breaths until Rin heard a click.
‘’ForRest, would you like to place an order?’’ The voice said. Rin looked at the little list he had scrawled down a few days ago. Coffee, bread and cigarettes. ‘’Yes please. I would like to order coffee, bread and cigarettes.’’ He called through the phone.
‘’We can only deliver one thing at a time, and we’re out of bread.’’ The voice answered.
Out of bread? Seriously?
‘’Then I would like a pack of cigarettes.’’ Rin finally said. He only started smoking maybe a week ago. He had found his father’s cigarettes, and got curious. They tasted awful, but they made his teeth yellow and replenished his energy for the day, which were benefits. If those FEMA officers ever came back to check him, they could see that his teeth were yellow, so he couldn’t possibly be a visitor.
‘’Thank you. Your order has been accepted. Please expect your delivery tomorrow night.’’ The voice replied and hung up immediately after.
Rin put the phone back on the table and sighed. It was only morning, maybe even early afternoon. He didn’t know, couldn’t tell because the sun was bright all day long.
To the fridge he went. He wanted night to come already. He secretly did crave the presence of the people knocking on his door in the dark. And he had made his decision. He was going to let at least someone in tonight. Only if he deemed them trustworthy of course.
After all, his neighbour had warned his parents about staying alone in the house. Rin hadn’t paid much attention, only heard something about a pale visitor breaking into houses of people who were alone.
So when night finally came, and the first knock hit Rin’s ears, Rin made his way to the door, glancing through the peephole.
A boy stood there. The first thing Rin noticed about him was the massive amount of hair he had. He reminded Rin of that one Disney princess from a movie he watched with Sae, only the boy’s hair was a little shorter and reached his shoulders. What was her name again..? Merida, that was it. The boy had a gigantic mop of curls that framed his face.
‘’Who are you?’’ Rin huffed through the door, watching the boy visibly perk up at the sound of a voice. He watched as the boy stumbled over his words for a bit, until he finally spoke up.
‘’Uh, hi! I’m Fabian. I’m looking for shelter.’’ The brunette said, his Japanese clumsy and tainted by an accent Rin could only assume was mediterranean. ‘’Would you let me in? Please?’’ Fabian asked, seemingly desperate. Though it would take more than desperation to convince Rin.
‘’Where did you come from?’’ Rin pressed on, watching the boy closely as he fumbled to answer.
Fabian collected himself, probably trying to find the correct words. Japanese didn’t seem to be his native language judging off the fact that he took at least ten seconds to understand what Rin said. ‘’I came from a hotel. Visitors snuck into my room so I had to… Cómo se dice eso en japonés...?’’ Fabian digressed, straying from his original topic of telling Rin where he came from.
‘’I just need somewhere to stay,’’ he continued. ‘’would you let me in?’’
Rin swallowed thickly, his throat bobbing as he pondered. Fabian didn’t seem to be hostile, and it was better to let a boy his age in his house instead of a creepy old man. Rin’s gaze swept over him once more. He couldn’t be taller than 5’7, so if he did turn out to be a threat, Rin could probably beat him. And if it was really necessary, Rin could grab his father’s gun.
‘’Come in.’’ Rin muttered, his heart beating wildly as he opened the door for the stranger.
‘’Gracias a los dioses. Todavía hay gente que confía en los demás en esta tierra.’’ The boy muttered. Rin only understood the word ‘Gracias.’ At least the boy was thankful.
Fabian cautiously walked inside, clearly alert. Rin watched as the brunette’s eyes frantically flicked in their sockets, scanning his surroundings. Rin only noticed that Fabian had a backpack when he brushed past him.
‘’You can sleep in whatever room you want, just not the one at the end of the hall.’’ Rin explained. Fabian nodded and wandered off into the office, closing the door behind him. Rin sighed. What the hell am I doing, letting strangers in my house..? Mom and dad will kill me when they get back.
Tomorrow morning he would check if Fabian was a visitor, but for now he had to hope Fabian wasn’t one of them.
Rin made a decision, curtly walking through the hallway, past the office door straight to the living room. On the shelf of the closet lay the shotgun. Years ago, his father had insisted to buy one for protection. Rin hadn’t known what they’d need protection from in the safe neighbourhood they lived in. Right now, Rin was glad that his father bought the gun.
Rin picked it off the shelf, holding it in his hands. He had no idea how to use the thing, but at least he could use it as a threat. The thing couldn’t possibly be that hard to use, right?
Knock Knock Knock.
Of course. More people knocking on his door. Rin made his way back to the entrance of his house, glancing through the peephole for the second time tonight. He now held the shotgun clenched in one hand, feeling significantly safer with it by his side.
''Hi, For Rest delivery here.'' The delivery guy said. Rin didn't think twice about opening the door and grabbing his cigarettes, laying the packet on the little table with the phone. Rin liked the delivery guy. He didn't beg for entrance to his house, he just delivered his stuff and left.
Before Rin could turn on his heel and walk back to his room, another series of knocks hindered him from doing so. Wow, this was really getting repetitive. Rin's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance when he looked through the peephole.
On his porch stood another boy, seemingly the same age as Rin, though he looked visibly shorter. He had short, dark blue hair with a V-shaped fringe. A stubborn sprout sticking up on the top of his head.
‘’Why are you here?’’
The blue haired boy looked up, staring at the peephole. It almost felt like he could actually see Rin from the outside. ‘’I need shelter. Preferably with someone else.’’ He answered, his voice wavering slightly from fatigue.
Ah, this one does speak Japanese. ‘’And why would you seek shelter here specifically?’’
‘’No one else has let me in, so I thought I’d try my luck here.’’
Rin sighed. He didn’t need another person in his house, but only having one person beside himself in his house made him uneasy as well. Maybe he should at least have two people inside his house, just in case he’d kick one of them out. ‘’And who are you?’’
‘’I’m Isagi Yoichi.’’
The boy, Isagi, answered fast enough to convince Rin it wasn’t a made up name. ‘’Alright Isagi, come in..’’
Rin opened the door once again. If you would've told him that he'd be letting strangers into his house a week ago, Rin might have actually laughed at you. That's how absurd the situation was. But here he was, closing his door behind a boy named Isagi, who Rin had not even properly met yet.