A tinted black Mercedes parks by the bridge not far from them. “That’s my ride,” Stepan informed. The sun is setting. Kirill welcomes the darkness and loneliness. He no longer needs Stepan’s company. “You don’t want a lift?” Stepan asked. 

“No. It’s okay,” Kirill shakes his head to reject the offer as he pulls his mask back up. “I’d like to walk around for a bit.” 

Stepan looks around. The darkness in Krasniy can be overwhelming some times. He doesn’t want to lose his precious little thing to the dark. “You sure? It gets pretty scary at night around here,” he persuaded. 

“I’m not scared of ghosts or the darkness,” Kirill made a statement. Which is true. Kirill was never one of the scaredy cats. He had had encounters with the paranormal before but it never made much of an impression on him. This side of him is admired the most by his friends back in New Japan. 

Stepan smiles in acknowledgement, refusing to believe the truth in Kirill’s words. After all, everybody should be afraid of something, right? He just thought that it’s cute of Kirill to deny being afraid. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow, then,” Stepan spoke and he nods as he walks off towards his ride. 'It was such a shame', he thought. 'We could have made some ‘progress’ in the car.' 

“See you,” Kirill replied. He is not looking forward to seeing Stepan tomorrow. He needs to find ways to avoid further conversation with the boy. Rather than ghosts or the dark, he is more afraid of being acquainted to Stepanov Chenkov. 

He admits it now that he had underestimated the boy when he first started their conversation. With his own personality, he always thought that he is above others. He is uncaring of what other people feel or think about him. So, he was always honest with his thoughts and actions. That honesty had always given him the upper hand but not with Stepan. With Stepan, he needs to watch what he says or does. Because Stepan is not afraid of the truth. In fact, Kirill thinks that Stepan doesn’t even care if Kirill were to find out any truths about him. Stepan is the kind of person that you have no handle against. No matter what information you have, you can’t take him down with them. 

Easier said, from their conversation, Kirill can tell that Stepan is two things. One; he is narcissistic. Two; he is sociopathic. And the course of action to take is simple. 

Stay away. 

Kirill watches the Mercedes drove off into the night. That day, Kliment would have wanted to walk home, right? So, Kirill follows the track towards where Kliment was supposed to go on the day of his disappearance. 

Home. 

As he walks, he tries to catch the ‘feel’ but that kind of thing comes and goes. It doesn’t always come when Kirill wants to. He will be caught off guard with the ‘feels’ most of the time. What he meant by ‘feels’ is that he can catch Kliment’s memories. At places with significant importance to the other. Kliment also used to get this ‘feels’ from him. They used to play catching the ‘feels’ like a game. It was an exclusive game only for the two of them. When they were children, they used to tell their parents and others about this psychic little connection they have but as they get older, they no longer talked about them. It wasn’t because most people wouldn’t believe them or something like that. It just that it felt more special to be known for just the two of them. It was an unspoken agreement between them. This ‘feel’ is exclusive only for them. 

When Kirill reaches Kliment’s home, he stops dead in his track and only manages to watch it from afar. He catches the ‘feels’ of familiarity. He can also envision the smiles of his twin brother with his mother and his mother’s lover. This is the place where Kliment used to sleep and hang out. This is the place where so many traces of him can be found. The ‘feels’ might get intense if he gets closer.

He doesn’t want that. 

He sees his mother by the kitchen’s window. He hadn’t seen her in a long time. His heart aches. He hates her but he also longs for her. As far as Kirill can remember, his mother never made much of an appearance in his life but she was always there in his mind. Despite of him denying that fact, she is still there. And that makes him hate her even more. 

His mother is a female ‘strain’. Normally, there’s a 95% chance of ‘strain’ to reproduced ‘strain’ children but unfortunately, Kliment and Kirill were the other 5%. She cheated on Kirill’s father and ran back to her old girlfriend. Kirill hates her for separating him and Kliment. He even blamed her for Kliment’s disappearance even when he knew he shouldn’t. After all, he needs a substitute for the blame. Someone to lash on. Someone to be responsible for it all. He turns back around, remembering the flaming dawn on the day his mother left with Kliment. Forgiveness is not easy. Kirill has a heart of stone. Forgiveness is out of the question. 

Unbeknownst to Kirill, not far from where he is, a tinted black Mercedes is parked with its lights off. “Say… Maxim,” the boy with a mole under his almond-shaped eyes began to speak. The driver turns to look at his young master to show that he is paying attention. “Do you think that boy would become mine?” A charming sinister smile appears on the face of Maxim’s young master as he asked the question. At this point, it’s futile to not agree with him, isn’t so? 

֍֍֍ 

*Author’s note: ‘Strain’ is a third fictional gender I introduced in this story. There are female ‘strain’ and also male ‘strain’. Female ‘strain’ has a hidden male genital that can produce semen and they also have womb to carry fetus.  Male ‘strain’ has normal genital like a man (physically they are no different than a normal male) but they have womb to carry fetus. Also, they can’t carry their own children. The same DNA won’t match to carry children. I don’t want people to say that they can have children with their own semen hahahaha. It doesn’t work like that. You guys might say that “hey, why not just use omegaverse instead?” but nah… I don’t want to. -K