License to Survive

Construction is underway! Probably Qian Rin didn't come to the rooftop and Kagura jumped down^_^ The wind on the rooftop has never been so "warm". It was no longer a sharp and cold steel needle, but more like a whisper of temptation, gently embracing his exhausted soul. The stream of light from the traffic below is no longer a representation of death, but an invitation to eternal peace and liberation. That's it… let's get rid of it completely. Those distorted whispers, those vicious glances imprinted on his spine, the suffocating, huge and chaotic despair in Senior Eita's eyes... Fuyuki's guitar that was about to push him to the trial stand... All the heavy, sharp, and disgusting noises of the world, in the rush of weightlessness, strangely began to peel off, blur, and dissipate. In his last consciousness, there was no fear, only a cold, boundless exhaustion and complete... Blankness. …That's it…that's fine. Time was cruelly nailed to the last trace of blood at dusk at that moment. The first thing to tear apart the solid twilight was the dull and loud sound of metal hitting the ground and the short and extremely short scream that humans could not suppress. The sharp sound of brakes was like the toll of a death knell, tearing through the silent air outside the campus. In the corner of the campus, the last school janitor in charge of patrol stood stunned on the spot. The newly lit cigarette in his hand fell to the ground, and the sparks quickly dimmed in the cold dust. When he saw the unnatural, spreading shadow on the ground in the distance, his mind went blank and he yelled hoarsely into the walkie-talkie based on instinct. This news was like a depth charge, detonating in the campus that had not yet woken up the next morning, setting off huge waves and sweeping away the last trace of the illusion of peace last night. News briefings dominated the headlines of local websites, cold and ruthless: [A student from a high school in Aoba fell to his death from the rooftop. The suspicion of homicide was initially ruled out, and the police intervened in the investigation. Condolences. After a brief system paralysis, the school forum completely turned into a quagmire of emotions and rumors. The post about "Akaban Kagura bullying Asahi Eita-senpai" that was originally fermenting was like being thrown into magma at this moment, boiling, twisting, and deforming in an instant, bursting out with destructive energy: "Holy shit! Did you really jump?! That thief and bully?" "Wasn't it said that he has a dark psychology before? He deserves it. He forced the senior to lose control in the equipment room, and he didn't have the guts to bear the consequences?" "What crawls out of the garbage heap is garbage after all. It's fun to deal with yourself." "What happened in the equipment room? I heard that the senior is in a very bad state now. It's really the fault of that bastard Akabane!" "I know people but not their hearts. I usually pretend to be withdrawn, but my heart is so dark! I almost hit an innocent passerby when I died. What a bad luck!" "I just ask the school to suppress the news quickly, so as not to affect our further studies!" The labels of "victim" and "perfect perpetrator" were firmly welded to the name "Akaban Kagura" by this irreversible death, becoming the final conclusion. Rumors mutate and spread at an exponential rate. Every "heard" and "said" deepens the evil borne by that thin figure that has disappeared. The truth, together with the unspoken pain and struggle of the young man, was completely crushed and buried by the loud voices of "suicide out of fear of guilt", "psychological distortion", and "it is his own fault". No one will delve into that afternoon moment in the equipment room. No one cared about the hidden meaning behind his silence when he was labeled a "thief". But that doesn't seem to be important anymore.