Killing by A Car

　With school closed for the coronavirus, Hayate Sakamoto rode around town on his bike with his brother, Sou Sakamoto. It felt great to be tearing through the spring breeze together. Besides, it was always nice to be with his brother. Not only does it feel great when he's pedaling his bike, but it also when they're playing a game together. Sou was incredibly strong in "Pokémon Sword and Shield". He'd never seen Sou lose to Hayate himself or his friends. Even when Hayate found a chance to win, Sou overcame that strategy. And he would defeat all the enemies. Sou was the strongest to Hayate, and he was well-liked by all people.
"Hey, let's have a competition!"
　If the brother told Hayate that, he couldn't say no. On a road as desolate as an apocalyptic movie, they began to race each other. Hayate pedaled his bike with maximum power, but still couldn't overtake him. Sou was as quick as a gale itself. Then Sou turned his back and shouted
"I win!"
　At that moment, a car jumped out of the side and ran over Sou's bike. His body flew up into the sky, fluffy as if it were a speck of dust. Hayate thought that Sou would fly away like a sliced red thread. But in fact, with a grotesque sound, Sou fell onto the asphalt. And then he started to convulse, blowing yellow bubbles. Even a dying Pokémon wouldn't be in this state. But the red car that had run over Sou was running away. As Hayate looked at its back, he suddenly felt a rush of fear like nausea.
"Help! Help! Help!"
　In the hospital's waiting room, Hayate waited with his parents. His father, Junji, walked around hysterically while his mother, Maki, held Hayate's body in her arms. After a few moments of this situation, a doctor appeared in front of them. Junji ran to her and asked her what she had to say, but in the end, he collapsed on the hospital floor. Just from the sight of him, Hayate knew that his beloved brother, Sou, had passed away. Junji was crying out as he pounded the floor hard. However, Maki continued to pat Hayate's back, saying, "It's okay, it's okay." In the midst of all this, Hayate looked at the hospital floor. Its foul orange color resembled a rotten honeydew. There was a single, strangely thick line of gray dust. It resembled the broomstick star he and Sou had seen sometime ago. Perhaps Sou had transformed into one of those stars, Hayate thought.
　As he lay on the bed in his room, Hayate thought about the memories of his brother. Picking their noses together on the train (something that wouldn't be allowed nowadays in the coronavirus disaster). Running together on a tripod at sports day. Singing "Frozen"'s song together. Playing Pokémon together. And when he remembered how much he loved spicy caviar spaghetti, tears spontaneously flowed from Hayate's eyes. It tasted more salty and bitter than ever. He continued to drink those tears along with his sniffles.
　After the tears stopped, Hayate went to touch his brother's model gun. Sou loved guns, he watched a lot of action movies to watch gun fights, and he also collected model guns. Hayate picked up one of them and held it tightly in his hand. Then he thought about the culprit. In fact, Hayate knew who the culprit was. He was Masaru Asada, the father of a girl in his class named Honoka Asada. Hayate had seen his face when he came to visit the class and it was the same as that of the killer sitting in the driver's seat. And then he decided that he would get revenge on the murderer Masaru Asada.
　The next day, Hayate started a stakeout in front of the apartment building where Masaru lives. He hoped that Masaru wasn't working from home, but luckily, that red car showed up. Masaru was sitting in the driver's seat. Hayate followed the car. It was terribly unpleasant to keep driving, feeling the wind as the red car cut through, which made every pore in his body puke. The landscape around him seemed more disturbing than usual. The color of the sky was an eerie blue, like the blood of an octopus. Then he arrived at the place where the car perked. It was a plain, ordinary building. Masaru came out of the car and walked into it. He probably worked here. Hayate continued to wait. The killing intent drowned out his weariness and anxiety. A few hours passed and Masaru came out of the building and got into his car. And as he headed for home, Hayate followed him. But he couldn't do anything but chase after him. He still didn't have the courage to appear in front of Masaru. Then Masaru reached his own apartment. Hayate went home with nothing to do.
　Hayate was eating dinner with his parents. Today it was mapo tofu and gyoza. But far from being a family reunion, everyone was silent. It was impossible to taste any food in such dry tranquility. And then suddenly, his father, Junji, suddenly began to cry. It was the first time Hayate had ever seen a teardrop fall into a pile of white rice.
"The one who killed Sou is alive and well......''
　Maki gently patted the back of Junji's back.
"'What on earth did we do........"
　Hearing those words, Maki also began to cry. Their crying was deafening, and Hayate wanted to break his own eardrums right now. But he remained silent and kept eating his food.
　Then Hayate kept track of Katsu for days. When he was pedaling his bike and looking at the building, Hayate kept reminding himself, "I'll kill him, I'll kill him," but he didn't get the courage to actually kill him. Nevertheless, Hayate continued to wait in front of the company. He continued to replay the warm memories of him and Sou in the mind. Each time he did, a comfortable warmth enveloped his body. Sou was the best brother he had ever had, and he still felt that way even now.
　I'm going to kill him, I'm going to kill him, I'm going to kill him.
　Hayate's days were gradually dominated by such dangerous thoughts. When he was asleep on the bed, when he ate a karaage, or when he peed in the bathroom, Hayate kept wishing he could kill Masaru. From time to time, he imagined Masaru's corpse torn apart. His brain marrow was blown up and his colon protruded from his belly. His face was cruelly crushed and his limbs were completely severed. Now, Hayate roused himself to create such a cruel carcass. And that time had come out of nowhere. One day, while he was in pursuit, a car stopped at a red light. At this moment, the thought "it's now or never" swept through Hayate's body. With his blood still boiling, he leaped in front of the car and took out a model gun from his pocket. Masaru had a stunned, dumb look on his face. Hayate tapped on the windshield with the model gun. Then he was surprised when it cracked with a terrific sound.
"Come out, you murderer!"
　With a ridiculous scream, Masaru came outside. Hayate hit him in the head with the model gun, knocking him to the ground. He also kicked him repeatedly in the side and then puts the model gun in his mouth.
"You killed my brother!"
　Hayate exclaimed.
"What the hell are you talking about, I didn't do anything!"
　Masaru was about to vomit as Sachi stabbed him in the back of the throat with his model gun.
"It wasn't me, it wasn't me! I didn't do anything!"
"I knew it. You ran my brother over and killed him. You ran into my brother's bike and blew him up!"
　Masaru's eyes opened wide, being silent for a moment.
"That wasn't on purpose! That guy just jumped out at me!"
　The blood rose in Hayate's head as he spat those words out, and with the model gun he began to punch Masaru's face. Blood chattered and sprinkled from his lips. Katsu's face turned a vivid red.
"Help! Help!"
　But Hayate didn't stop. He just kept punching Masaru's face. What was interesting was that as Hayate punched him, Masaru's face became more and more deformed. It was just like when they played with clay in kindergarten. Hayate remembered then that he had made a big sword out of clay that the hero was holding. And his friend Aito Kizaka had made a similar sword, so they had fought together. Aito and he had been together until elementary school, but they hadn't seen each other at all after that. It's been a long time since he'd seen him, Hayate thought.
　Stop it!
　Suddenly those words echoed in his head. It was indeed the voice of his brother, Sou. Hayate stopped his hand with surprise. And the thought that revenge might be a bad thing appeared in his mind. And while he was at it, Masaru snatched the model gun from Hayate hitting him back. Immediately, Hayate's face turned red as well.
"This isn't the real thing, you scared the shit out of me!"
　And Masaru kept hitting Hayate for a while, but eventually he didn't move at all.
"I killed him again. That sucks."
　After saying that, Masaru got into the car and crushed Hayate's head with the red car. Masaru sighed deeply and then started the car. After driving down the road for a while, he saw a line of kindergarten kids walking down the road. So he ran into it. After carefully running over the bodies of the kindergarteners, Masaru started the car again. It had been a long time since he had enjoyed a drive, so it was quite pleasant.