"The fact that I believed I was alright. The fact that I believed I would be make it through this. The fact that I believed life would get better after I waited things out. It was all just one lie after another. I can't believe allowed myself to believe those things. Lie after lie, cushioning each one with another petty excuse. 'oh I'm just busy!' or, 'I'm tired today, but maybe tomorrow, alright?' I'm a disappointment to everyone..." Osomatsu thought to himself, a gentle breeze ruffling his hair as he kicked the grave of his deceased parents, cursing the very day he had been born into the world.

"Everyone has left me, so what's the point? My life alone is nothing but a weed. On the outside I'm ugly. On the inside I'm ugly. There's nothing good about me. People just want me to be gone..." Osomatsu's voice cracked a little as he gazed at the two kanji written on the two graves. "Matsuno...Is a name that brings shame to the world now. With both parents gone, who even are we..? Or should I say, who am I?"

"Everyone's moved on now, married, enjoying their lives, leaving me here to watch the world slowly change, whilst time for my own life seems to have stopped." Osomatsu rubbed under his nose, forcing his old, goofy grin onto his face, despite how much he longed to wail and morn the death of the people who brought upon six lives of wasted space in the world.

Later...

Osomatsu gently pushed the front door shut to the Matsuno residence, slipping off his shoes as soon as he entered.

"Guys," Osomatsu's voice cracked. "I-I'm home, again. Things have been crazy lately...I can't believe..."

Osomatsu took a few steps forward, a single tear slipping down his cheek. "G-Guys...H-Hey I'm home, you know..? A-A simple...'Welcome back, niisan!' would suffice. I don't expect anyone's forgiveness...if had hadn't been b-born...none of you would h-have existed either, right..?"

Osomatsu stumbled wildly into the living room, swinging open the the door, praying that his brothers would be there. But as usual, they weren't. They were supposed to be all grown up now, after all.

"H-Hey g-guys..?" Osomatsu's gazed into the dark room, moonlight shining brightly onto the abandoned kotatsu. "Choromatsu, you can come out, I know you're probably busy l-l-looking for a job! Aha! Or even reading those magazines on how to get g-girls to want you..o-or..."

Osomatsu leaned against the wall, slowly slumping down to the floor. Covering his face, tears began to spill down his cheeks, like a dam that had just burst, flooding an area for miles on.

"I'm sorry for all the things I said to you in the past. I'm sorry for being a bad brother to you guys...I'm sorry for never being the leader I was supposed to be. I'm sorry i could never live up to your expectations...I don't expect to ever be forgiven by any of you...I don't expect you to ever love and care for me again like you used to...but please...p-please come home..." Osomatsu sobbed, throwing himself onto the floor, his heart racing.

One hour later...

After getting a grip on his fluctuating emotions, having allowed a bit of his sorrow out, Osomatsu managed to sit up at the kotatsu, though he kept the lights off.

Somehow he felt as if everything was supposed to be alright if the lights were on, just as if the sun were shining on a day, people laughing, when you knew one had committed suicide.

With a single sheet of paper in front of himself and an old pen, which had been left behind by Choromatsu, the eldest son began to write.

"My dearest brothers," Osomatsu began, though his pen slipped from his hand, leaving a long streak of blue ink across the paper. It wasn't that he cared that the paper was now flawed, but it simply showed of sign of his mental instability.

Osomatsu continued to write, his hands shaking. His heart began to pound in his chest at such a rate, that he began to feel quite nauseous and dizzy. As if he were about to lose his mind again, really.

"Forgive me," Osomatsu muttered, as he scribbled down a few words on the sheet of paper before he collapsed on the floor, passing out for several hours due to shock.

For weeks ago, six men, five of which were happily married, were robbed of their happiness. A single support had left them without a word.

The moment Ichimatsu heard of the death of his parents, he fell into a sudden, uncontrollable depression, which magically ended his life. The moment he chose to rob himself of his breath was the moment Jyushimatsu came to the realization of how worthless he was without his best friend to care for. With a broken heart, the man died within days of the news of Ichimatsu's suicide.

Karamatsu, though he never believed in such things, ended up hanging himself. Nobody was sure why. The only evidence he left behind was a simple note, which read, "I love you too. So let's be together again in the next life, alright?"

Choromatsu, completely unaware that his brothers were dropping like flies, was accidentally killed in a car crash, when a drunken drive smashed is vehicle. Though it was such a common death, each little thing brought Osomatsu more and more misery.

Todomatsu was dead too, but nobody knew how or why. That was all there was to be said on the subject. Todomatsu doesn't matter.

As life went on, Osomatsu told himself he would survive. He told himself things would get better, and that the world wasn't really a bad place, it was just that bad things happened in it.

Upon awakening, Osomatsu's eyes were glazed over with sadness, his soul crushed. Birds were singing their early morning songs, and, of course, the sun was shining brightly, directly into Osomatsu's eyes.

Eyes heavy, chest burdened, though he felt empty on the inside, Osomatsu groaned as he pushed himself up off of the floor.

He read over his letter, nodded his head in satisfaction, then headed to the bathroom.

He was never one to take baths, but this morning, his entire body was sore from sleeping on the floor. Thus, a bath would surely help.

Filling up the bathtub, Osomatsu rested in the water (once he had removed his clothes, of course). He left the water running until it was nearly up to his nose.

Closing his eyes, Osomatsu inhaled and exhaled slowly, trying to clear his mind. Voices were always in his head nowadays. Familiar voices that he didn't want to hear.

Memories flew through his mind. Memories of both joy and sadness.

Jyushimatsu's marriage to Homura, Ichimatsu's honesty during difficult times, Karamatsu's silly claim that he was 'one with his mirror', Todomatsu getting several job offers due to his friendship with Atsushi, and of course, Choromatsu continuously getting caught "playing" with himself.

"Good times," Osomatsu mumbled, his breathing slowing. He was finally beginning to relax, though the voices inside his mind were only getting louder and louder.

"Tch...you don't know what it feels like to be all alone..." Ichimatsu muttered.

"My brother, I love you!~" Karamatsu often exclaimed, and so on.

Soon enough, Osomatsu fell asleep, his head slipping beneath the water.

It was months before anyone ever found him, dead in the bathtub. For, you see, nobody even cared to check up on him. Even when his brothers were still alive, they never said a word to him, as if everything that had ever happened or which was bad, was all his sorry fault.

Though, when his final letter was discovered on the kotatsu, one would say it was for the best that he had died.

The note simply read, "Hey, guys, I really like marbles."

The End