An infinite spatial void, studded with distant stars and glittering galaxies, stretched out like a silent veil.
At the heart of this endless cosmos, a cold, dead planet, resembling an immense rock suspended in eternity. No trace of life. No light of its own. Just silence and stone.
Two silhouettes faced each other, alone in this immensity: Bakuzan and Sakolomé.
The cosmic wind, icy, blew on their frozen capes. Their gazes met. One wore a mask, the other seemed to be searching for answers.
Sakolomé:
Big brother… We are literally in another galaxy. What were you hoping to find here?
Bakuzan (voice muffled by the mask):
Solitude.
Sakolomé (frowning):
Solitude? Why want to get so far away? No one rejected you. We are still here…
Bakuzan remained silent for a few seconds, as if weighing the weight of his words to come.
Bakuzan:
I, too, have a dream to fulfill. Maybe you'll understand… someday.
Sakolomé:
A dream?
He raised his eyes to the sky. Thousands of comets streaked across the icy atmosphere, tracing incandescent lines above their heads. A suspended moment.
Bakuzan:
Do you remember? That day. You were five years old.
Sakolomé lowered his head. His gaze darkened. Memories resurfaced.
Bakuzan:
You were coming out of the park. People attacked you. They had discovered that you were a Satsujin Otoko. You were beaten up. There were people, many people… but no one lifted a finger. Their eyes were empty. As if they were just waiting for you to die to finally look away.
Your arm was broken, you were bleeding heavily. I was late… but I arrived. I defended you. We both got hit that day. Yet, I ended up getting us away. I carried you on my back. Your temperature was rising, you were delirious.
And me… I kept talking to you. Reassuring words. I had to be strong. I was your big brother, I couldn't break down. If I had shown a weakness, you would have been even more scared. I was supposed to be your wall, your refuge. But in truth… that day, Sakolomé, I was terrified.
Your heartbeat was slowing down. Your skin was getting cold. I ran as fast as I could. I was eight years old, Sakolomé… and I was afraid of losing you.
When you healed… I was so proud of you. You can't even imagine.
A silence. The breath of the stars.
Bakuzan (resuming):
Then there was another day. Bakuran was barely three years old. Dogs attacked him… dogs that people had themselves released, just to see what it would do. I was still there. I intervened again.
And then… the death of Salomé. The attack on mother.
Another day again, I was walking with father. We were stoned in the street. People were laughing. And you know what father said, smiling? "They never get tired, those ones, it seems."
I don't know what he meant. Maybe he was trying to make me see a form of irony, a hidden lesson, a glimmer of optimism in the horror… But me, I only saw absurdity.
Bakuzan clenches his fists.
Bakuzan:
All this… all these violences, all these dramas… have one and the same root: the fact that we are Satsujin Otoko.
In the eyes of the world, we are not human beings. We are expected to suffer in silence. That the death of one of us is a social relief. That our pain is trivial, justified. A natural punishment.
I can't accept that anymore. Maybe I've tried too hard to accept it, precisely.
He turns away slowly, his gaze lost towards infinity. The silence becomes heavy. The stars continue to shine… but they warm nothing.
Bakuzan (dull voice behind his mask, standing facing the stellar void):
Sakolomé… I have always tried to surpass myself. Always. Even when I was at the end of my rope. Even when I wanted to collapse.
I don't know how you see things, you, the others... But you know what I've understood? All those who love us, all those who try to approach us, end up hated. Rejected. And sometimes… executed.
He slowly turns his head towards him, his gaze pierces through.
Bakuzan:
I can't pretend anymore. I've carried this since my birth. And today… I'm reaching the end.
I can't take it anymore, Sakolomé. It's over. I've held on for too long.
Sakolomé (clenching his fists):
No… Do you think you are the only one who suffers? That we haven't seen anything? Haven't felt anything? Bakuzan, we are here. I am here. You don't have to carry everything. We can—
Bakuzan (cuts him off, his voice vibrant, almost trembling):
Do you think I haven't tried? That I haven't fought?
He takes a step forward, his voice rising in tone.
Bakuzan:
Every time we were rejected, I intervened. Every time you were insulted, I took the blows. You don't know how many times I begged the others to leave you alone, in silence, teeth clenched.
I became a wall… a damn living wall. So that you, you could still laugh a little. Breathe. Exist.
But this wall is crumbling, Sakolomé. It's falling to pieces. And no one picks it up.
Sakolomé (his voice lower, almost broken):
You could have talked to us… We would have listened to you, Bakuzan. We would have reached out to you. Why did you lock yourself away like that?
Bakuzan (icy voice):
Because if I had shown you the truth, you would have fallen with me. I preferred to break alone.
You don't understand… What I've endured, what I've kept silent… it's not just pain, Sakolomé. It's pure hatred. The kind you feel as soon as you open your eyes in this world.
He stops, his fists trembling.
Bakuzan:
I held on all these years… telling myself it was worth it. That at least you would be spared.
He finally lowers his head.
Bakuzan:
But I lied. I lied to myself.
Sakolomé (approaches slowly, almost in a whisper):
So you want to leave everything behind? Do you really want to disappear?
Bakuzan (long silence, then):
No. I want… to be left to die in silence.
Sakolomé, without a word, approaches slowly.
Their feet crunch on the icy rock of this sterile planet. The sky is streaked with cometary trails, but in this cosmic silence, there exist only two souls. Two brothers.
He stops in front of him.
Then, gently, he places his forehead against Bakuzan's mask. A fraternal contact. An attempt to anchor this bond, to keep it alive.
His voice is soft. Wounded.
Sakolomé:
You are not a wall, Bakuzan. You are my brother. You are alive. You have the right to cry, to fall, to say "I can't take it anymore". You don't have to absorb everything for us…
Let me help you. Let us love you, even if it hurts.
A terrible silence follows.
Then, Bakuzan's voice rises, muffled by the mask, but heavy. Unbreakable.
Bakuzan:
Do you think you've just told me something I've never heard? Do you think your love can fix a world that cursed us before we even spoke?
He steps back slowly, pulls his forehead away, raises his head towards the icy skies.
Bakuzan:
I've thought about it, Sakolomé. I've thought about every word. Every gesture. I even played this role… the solid brother, the fake smile. I invented reasons to hope so I wouldn't drag you down.
He looks at him again, and this time… it's a gaze devoid of all illusion.
Bakuzan:
But after years of pretending… you know what I've understood?
That it was absurd.
Bakuzan (his voice becomes deeper, darker):
We are hit. We are spat on. We are murdered. And we are asked to forgive. To be strong. To be saints. To smile in the blood.
So no, Sakolomé. I haven't abandoned the family.
He takes a step forward, his presence becomes overwhelming.
Bakuzan:
I have decided… to make them pay. All of them. One by one. All those who thought that the Satsujin Otoko were only good for suffering in silence.
I'm going to show them what it costs… to break a brother.
Sakolomé (pale, but upright):
No.
Bakuzan looks at him, surprised by the interruption. But Sakolomé does not tremble.
Sakolomé:
I won't let you do it. Even if it means I have to stop you. Even if I have to confront you. Do you think revenge will fill this void? It will just finish you. Engulf you. You think it's justice… but it's just the end of yourself.
He takes a step forward, his eyes filled with determination.
Sakolomé:
You are my brother. But if you become our executioner… then I will be the one who brings you back. By word, or by force.
Bakuzan (an icy breath escapes from his mask, like a funereal sigh):
Then prepare yourself, Sakolomé… Because I will no longer back down.