CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 12: “THE NIGHT OF BROKEN FLESH”


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The walls echoed with laughter.
Drunken, cruel laughter.
Thick smoke curled through the abandoned room like a snake, slithering around blood-stained walls and broken innocence.

Naoki lay in the center of the chaos.

Stripped.
Bleeding.
Breathing—but barely.

He didn’t scream anymore.
He couldn’t.

His voice was long gone.

His mind was in pieces.

His body had become a canvas—
burned, cut, marked.

Across his chest, crude words drawn in iron: “WORTHLESS”
“DOG”
“TOY”

His head buzzed.
His vision blurred.

He wanted to cry.
But even his tears had abandoned him.


---

“Tch. Still alive?” Kane muttered, wiping blood from his knuckles. “What a stubborn bastard.”

“Let’s carve a smile on his face,” Mira laughed, high on something Naoki couldn’t understand.

“Still not barking? Guess we’ll need to shock him harder,” said Rei, adjusting the collar with a sadistic grin.

Angelyn leaned forward, hair down, face hidden by her mask even now.

She dragged her nail across Naoki’s cheek, slow and deep.
Blood trailed after.

“You ruined my perfect day,” she whispered.
“You looked at my face. That was your sin.”

Naoki blinked up at her.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean… I was just…”
He couldn’t finish.
His words drowned in sobs.


---

The 12 had gathered tonight to celebrate.

They drank.
They howled.
They played music.
They played him.

Naoki was their piñata.
Their ashtray.
Their toy.


---

In a dark corner, the janitor, old and worn, watched through a crack in the door.

He was trembling.
His hands clutched the mop, white-knuckled.

He wanted to move.
To do something.
But he feared them. Everyone did.

Still—

Naoki’s whisper—

“Please… help me…”

That was enough.


---

He took out his phone.
Dialed.

“Police… please. Come now. I—I don’t know how long he’ll last.”


---

Back in the room, Renzo held a camera, capturing every frame.

“Smile for the last shot, toy,” he said, as Sora laughed, drunk and spinning around Naoki like a stage actor.

“You’re our masterpiece, Naoki-kun,” said Yue with a dead grin, flicking a cigarette at his face.

Another burn.

Another scream—
only in his head.


---

Naoki’s thoughts blurred.

“What… did I… do wrong…?”
“God… why me…?”
“Someone… save me…”

He begged heaven with the last pieces of his mind.

His arms refused to move.
His mouth was filled with blood.

His eyes swelled shut, yet he saw everything—
the monsters laughing.
the flames.
the iron rods.
his mother’s face, crying in his mind.

He saw her—
barking.
crawling.

“I’m sorry, Mom…”
“I couldn’t protect you…”

He wanted to die.

He begged for death.


---

Until—

“POLICE! DROP EVERYTHING!”

The door exploded open.

Lights flashed.
Shouting.
Screaming.

The 12 scattered.
But not far.

One by one—
arrested.

Naoki collapsed.

The last thing he saw was a flashlight.
Then—
Darkness.


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THREE DAYS LATER

The room was cold.

White walls.
Steady beeping.

Naoki woke slowly.
Like dragging himself out of a grave.

He blinked up at the ceiling.

He was alive.

“…why?” he whispered.

His voice cracked.

“…I was supposed to die…”

He stared.

At nothing.

His bald head stung.
His body wrapped in bandages.
Scars peeked from under the sheets.

He felt nothing.

He was—
empty.


---

Meanwhile—
In a police holding cell.

The 12 sat together.

Takao leaned back.
“Chill. This is nothing.”

Jin smirked.
“My dad’s already talking to the lawyers.”

Angelyn crossed her legs, mask still on.
She looked bored.

“Give it two days,” she muttered. “Daddy’ll clean this up.”


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TWO DAYS LATER
In the office of the Vice Mayor—Angelyn’s father.

He slammed a report on the desk.

“You—you goddamn disgrace!”

Angelyn stood still.

SLAP.

Her father’s hand cracked across her face.

“Do you want to destroy me before the election?! You think I can bury twelve criminal records this time?!”

Angelyn didn’t cry.
She never did.

“I took care of it,” she said, calmly. “The school won’t talk. The cops got paid. The boy’s in the hospital. He’s nothing.”

Her father stared.

“You’re not my daughter,” he hissed. “You’re a monster.”


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BACK IN THE HOSPITAL.

The door creaked open.

A tall man in a heavy jacket stepped inside.

Military boots.
Buzzcut.
A presence that filled the room.

Gosei.
Naoki’s uncle.
Veteran.
Silent.

He stood at the foot of the bed.

His eyes scanned the shape of the boy before him.

What he saw—
broke him.

Bandaged skull.
Burn scars.
Faint shaking.

Naoki didn’t even look at him.

He just… stared at the ceiling.

A whisper left his lips—

“…I’m still alive…”

Gosei clenched his fists.

And the chapter ended.


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TO BE CONTINUED…

Chapter end