Chapter 19 : InsanityAtsuko panted heavily as she ran deep into the forest with one hand covering her torso which seemed to be bleeding profusely.
“Stop running away, Atsuko~!” A scream was heard followed by a slightly crazed laughter.
As Atsuko turned around, she could see a few trees crashing onto the ground as if they were chopped clean off the trunk. She was really desperate to escape from her pursuer. And from Atsuko’s current condition, it can be safely assumed that her pursuer was not someone to be trifled with. There are not many people who are able to hurt Atsuko till this state.
The forest seemed to be going on forever and Atsuko had been running non stop since. She wanted to stop running so badly but she knew that if she stopped, she could get killed on the spot. But sometimes, hiding is a better choice than running. Atsuko stopped in her tracks and leaned behind one of the trees there.
“Damn it.. I was searching for Jurina.. Why must I bump into this person in a time like this? I thought she was gone for good..” Atsuko cursed silently as she removed her hand to take a look at her deep wound. Her hand was painted in red. It seemed like she sustained quite a heavy blow from her pursuer. “Ugh.. It hurts like mad..”
“I know you’re here somewhere~” An eerie voice suddenly echoed throughout the forest. “I can smell you.......”
“....” Atsuko tried to stay silent and motionless for as long as she could.
“Marco~ Polo~” The voice had an insane tone to it followed by a slight laughter. As soon as the voice echoed in the forest, a slash was heard and a tree from a few feet behind her came crashing onto the ground.
Atsuko wasn’t gonna let that startle her even though her heart was beating miles an hour. “...”
“Guess you’re not here~ Come out come out whereever you are, Atsuko~”
All that Atsuko hoped for right now is for this pursuer to leave this place at once. She is losing a lot of blood and her face started turning pale. “Please just leave...” begged Atsuko in her mind.
“Why are you so afraid of me, Atsuko~?” Again, the eerie tone echoed. “You were my one and only friend.. We met only after so many years... Shouldn’t you be happy to see me instead? Come on out~ Hehehehehe~”
Atsuko could feel shivers up her spine from her pursuer’s sentence and only had one thought in her mind right now. “She’s really crazy!”
And then the sound of metal blade gliding past a rock was heard. It echoed in the silent forest with a loud ‘shhhhhhhhhiiiing’ sound. “It won’t hurt one bit~ I’ll make sure to make it painless~”
“......” Atsuko’s wound was disturbing her a lot. She was trying her best to ignore the pain as much as she could since she had to remain silent for now.
“..........”
“....?” Atsuko frowned for a moment. It became a little too silent suddenly. She couldn’t sense anyone or anything for some reason. It was as if her Spectre senses were malfunctioning. The silence was making her even more anxious, so she decided to take a peek behind. Nobody was there. Perhaps the pursuer went away.........or maybe not.
*STAB*
“*gag*” All of a sudden, Atsuko gagged blood out of her mouth as a sword pierced through her from the back right at that 0.1second where she let her guard down.
“I~ found~ you~~~” Each word was pronounced slowly with a hint of insanity in them.
It was revealed to be a short haired lady with a pale face and her lips were a little purple come black. She had one arm locking Atsuko’s neck while the other holding onto a bloody sword that pierced Atsuko. She shifted her face towards Atsuko’s. So close that their cheeks were touching one another’s. From the side of Atsuko’s eyes, she could see the lady’s deranged eyes opened wide, two black orbs staring back at her without even blinking. She then sniffed Atsuko’s cheek hard and exhaled with a slight moan in her voice. “Did you miss me?”
“....” Atsuko was on the verge of passing out from the extreme pain. She was stabbed once by her earlier on and now she got stabbed again. She was losing a lot of blood from her mouth and her wounds. “*gack*”
“I missed you~~ so.....so....much......” The sinister tone whispered into Atsuko’s ears as she twisted the blade, messing up Atsuko’s insides even more.
“MMMMNNNNGGG!!!!!” Atsuko screamed in pain but was muffled by the hand covering her mouth. She was sweating buckets from holding the pain.
“Why did you hide from me?” The lady continued whispering into Atsuko’s ears as she pierced the sword deeper.
“MMNNG!!!” Atsuko slowly looked down at the sword protruding out of her stomach from the back and held it in place with both her hands, not letting the deranged lady push it in deeper than it already was.
“Your utmost struggle to survive.......” The lady continued whispering before she traced Atsuko’s cheek softly with her tongue. “It fills me up with....lust...”
“GAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!” Using all her strength, she activated her Spectre blades and managed to knock her away, causing her to lose grip on the sword. Atsuko then removed the lady’s sword from her torso and clipped it on her own belt to prevent her to make any more sudden attacks.
She tottered a little before grinning back at Atsuko and activated yet another sword. “You think mere Spectre blades will keep me away?”
Atsuko spit out some blood from her mouth before wiping it off her chin. “Just stay away from me!” As soon as she said that, she threw a flashbang at the lady and blinded her for a few seconds. She attempted to run but to no avail as her second wound was a little too heavy for her to start sprinting. So she moved a little further and hid behind another tree. Atsuko shook a little in fear while still covering her injured torso. “.....” Her breathing got heavier as footsteps got closer and closer to the tree she was standing behind.
“I can smell you here~” From the side of her eye, Atsuko could see a sword slowly gliding at the side of the tree. And there it was once again. The creepy and insane tone.
With that said, the sword swung past the tree, chopping it down cleanly from the trunk. Atsuko managed to leap to the side at that very moment and went in for a Judgement sword strike. It was unsuccessful as her pursuer defended it with little effort with her very own Judgement. “Just leave me be!!”
The pursuer had both her eyes widened in a psychotic manner. “What’s wrong, Atsuko? You look afraid.. Why are you afraid? You think I’m weird too, don’t you?”
“.....” Atsuko didn’t want to answer her question. She knew that her answer wouldn’t be the one that her pursuer wanted to hear.
“Why aren’t you speaking??” Her head tilted a little and her eyes twitched. “You’re my friend, right? Right, Atsuko? Right? You won’t ignore me like the others, right? Right?”
“Please......don’t do this..” Atsuko struggled to get the words out of her mouth as she was already heavily injured on her torso.
“You’re gonna be with me right? Right, Atsuko? You want to be with me, right?? Right?” She then increased her strength and managed to push Atsuko back. “Everybody disregarded me and tossed me aside... You were the only one who approached me.. Remember? I cannot let you toss me aside too, you know that right? To make sure you don’t toss me aside..... You know I cannot keep you alive, right? Right? I need you dead so you can never run away... You understand me very well, right?” Her insanity level was way off the charts. Her sentence was followed by an insane giggle.
“Just leave me alone already!”
“I cannot do that, you see... You helped me open my eyes to see the truth behind humanity’s rotten nature.. I still haven’t repay you for the debt.”
“You got the wrong idea of what I said!” Atsuko screamed back at her. “You’re mad!!!”
“That’s the thing, Atsuko...” The insane lady twitched her eye and licked her lips in a fast motion. “My madness keeps me sane... Hehehe~”
“Just stay away!” Atsuko used her Spectre blades this time and slammed them at the pursuer’s direction but to no avail as she blocked it with a Judgement shield.
“That’s it, that’s it... Resist more..” She laughed. “The more you resist, the more ORGASMIC it is to drench my sword with your blood!”
“Argh...” The wound opened up more with Atsuko’s attack. She placed too much pressure on her torso. She couldn’t continue fighting or else she would die from blood loss. She then gave her a little push and started running away. She aimed a fully charged laser behind and blasted it at her pursuer’s direction. “Stay away!”
Upon noticing, the pursuer changed the sword into a shield and defended against the laser. “GOOD! GOOD! GOOD! Resistance! Mmmm~ I can feel the pleasure running up my spine~ And it’s making my knees weak~” Her sentence was followed by an insane laughter.
Atsuko then stabbed the rear end of the Judgement on the ground as the laser continue blasting at her pursuer’s direction. She took this opportunity to run as far as she could and by the time the laser ended, the pursuer had lost track on Atsuko. She walked towards Atsuko’s Judgement and picked it up. After touching it a little, she placed it at her nose and gave a sniff. “Atsuko... I will find you.....and you would be my most priceless collection~ Hehehehehehe........ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!!!”
Yuki bent over a little and wiped her hand across a patch of dirt before bringing it close to her nose. “It smells like jasmine.. It’s a weird place to have jasmine around in this type of area.. Someone has been here..” Yuki stopped for a moment and suddenly remembered something. “Wait a minute.. Jasmine..”
“Atsuko..” Takamina smiled. “Pretty smart. She left traces of her weird perfume around so we can track her down easily just in case something happened.”
“I wouldn’t leave any traces if I were her.” Yuki retorted. “Enemies would know her location and she would be in danger.”
“There aren’t many people in this world who knows that this Jasmine perfume belongs to her. Besides, do you actually think someone as capable as Atsuko would be in danger so easily?”
“I know Atsuko sensei is strong, but you might never know. No matter how strong you are, there’s always a chance you might still fall in the end.”
Rena started sniffing hard again and again. “Smell......”
“Yes, Rena senpai. It’s Atsuko sensei’s jasmine perfume..” Yuki answered.
Rena ignored Yuki completely and started walking towards a direction. “Smell......”
Takamina immediately sensed something. “Rena. Did you find something?”
“Atsu......neechan......smell.....” Rena suddenly ran up the hill and stopped in her tracks as soon as she saw someone laying on the ground. It was none other than Atsuko laying flat on the ground on her small pool of blood. The scene was too shocking for Rena to react to it. Rena didn’t know how to react to Atsuko being unconscious at all. She started screaming at the top of her lungs while squeezing her head in pain. The shocked feeling was all converted into nothing but immense pain in Rena’s brain. She couldn’t interpret the feeling at all, so it was nothing but pain. “A.....AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!”
Hearing Rena’s scream, Yuki and Takamina rushed up only to be greeted by Atsuko on the ground while Rena was still screaming and grabbing her head. It seemed like Rena’s scream wasn’t going to subside soon so Takamina had no choice but to shut her up for now. Instead of knocking her out, Takamina placed two fingers somewhere around Rena’s throat and gave it a slight tap. That gesture itself blocked Rena’s voice box. It doesn’t block the air. It merely blocks the voicebox from functioning until she taps on it again. It was a kungfu skill learned by Takamina last time. Rena still seemed as if she was screaming her heart out with her mouth wide open but at least now, there was no sound. Takamina then gestured Yuki to take over in looking after Rena while she went over to Atsuko and let her rest on her arm. “Hey, Atsuko! Wake up! What happened!?”
Slowly, Atsuko opened her eyes and smiled in relief that she is finally safe in the hands of Takamina. “Mi....na...mi....”
“I’m here.” Takamina had one hand covering Atsuko’s wound to stop the bleeding.
“Just.....how many times do I need you to save me....” Atsuko weakly continued before letting out a cough. Her face was completely pale from loosing way too much blood.
“Shh... Not another word about this.” Takamina slowly brushed Atsuko’s hair to the side, at the same time wiping off the cold sweat.
Atsuko then shut her eyes and let out a heavy breath to calm herself down of the events that just befell her earlier. “....”
Takamina then looked over at Yuki and asked. “How’s Rena doing?”
“She’s calmed down a lot but she’s still a little shaken.” Yuki said as she tapped her finger on Rena’s throat to release her voicebox. She then patted Rena’s head a little. “Senpai, are you ok?”
Slowly, Rena tilted her head up to come in contact with Yuki. “Yu........ki.”
“She’s starting to remember more as time goes by...” Yuki smiled a little before asking Atsuko in a worried tone. “Atsuko sensei, I thought you were looking for Jurina? Who did this to you?”
Atsuko then slowly opened her eyes once again. “I couldn’t find Jurina anywhere.. I only found traces of her blood... And then I was ambushed..”
“By who?” Takamina asked.
Atsuko grabbed Takamina’s clothes tightly, smearing her shirt in red. “She’s back, Minami. Miyawaki...Sakura....”
Takamina’s eyes widened in shock from the mention of the name. “What did you just say?”
Atsuko groaned and repeated once again. “You heard me, Minami... Sakura.... She’s back.”
“Wait... Miyawaki Sakura?” Yuki frowned. “I remember that name.. You mean the urban legend back in Legion? I heard a lot of stories about her.. A lot of myth going on that time back in the Academy.. But...isn’t she merely a myth? A common urban legend for us teenagers?”
“What kind of stories have you heard about her?” Takamina asked.
“That she was once a Reaper.. She went insane and murdered 3 Reapers before fleeing Legion and became a serial killer.. But it’s just what I heard from people around. I’m not too sure about the details of this myth though..”
“........” Takamina shot a look at Atsuko before looking back at Yuki. “It seemed like the story was toned down by a lot... Now that she has resurfaced... It’s about time you learn the truth about her existance. Miyawaki Sakura isn’t a myth nor an urban legend. There in fact used to be someone called Miyawaki Sakura back in Legion.. Her name became a taboo in Legion.. Nobody was allowed to speak of her ever since....the incident. Probably that’s why it remained as a myth and an urban legend for the younger generations.”
Yuki frowned. “What incident? Wait, you sound like you know quite a lot about this..”
Takamina continued. “Miyawaki Sakura was in the same generation as us during our first few years.. We knew her. But she didn’t stay for long.. And the part where she murdered 3 Reapers was completely wrong. She murdered 14 Reapers in total... No.. Murder isn’t the accurate word.. The correct word for it would be skinned... Every single one of them were skinned..”
“Skinned??” Yuki felt goosebumps all over her body from the gory statement. “Even Spectres wouldn’t skin their victims! What kind of deranged human would do something like that!?”
“I’m not finished..” Takamina pointed out. “They might not be the best, but all 14 of them were elites.. Call her deranged or insane or whatever.. Having sufficient fighting ability to take out 14 elites proves just how powerful she is.”
Yuki’s eyes widened in fear. “She murdered 14 elite Reapers!? With that amount of fighting capability, that means..”
Takamina continued. “Yes. That puts her in the same level of fighting potential as I do.. And she’s probably more dangerous than me because of her extremely sadistic nature..”
Atsuko continued weakly. “Even I barely got out alive... With that level of fighting ability, I would have died earlier.. Now that I think of it, I think she actually let me escape.. She thinks that the process of hunting me down would be fun.”
Atsuko’s single sentence made Yuki tremble in fear. In Yuki’s eyes, Atsuko was one of the best Reapers aorund. With addition of Spectre attributes, she could be considered a very dangerous opponent to deal with. To be able to reduce Atsuko to this state made Yuki wonder just what kind of monster this Sakura really is.
“Remember how Mariko issued a wanted posted for me when I left?” Takamina asked Yuki.
“Yeah..” Yuki nodded.
Takamina continued. “That time when Sakura left, old lady Ohori didn’t even bother to issue a wanted poster for her despite the numbers of murders she committed.. She thinks that the only one strong enough to go against her would be none other than myself. But even with that thinking, she still wasn’t too sure that I would come back alive so she called it off. Do you understand? That’s just how dangerous she is.”
Atsuko explained. “There’re 2 types of insanity in this world, Yuki.. The first type is the one who is insane but doesn’t realize that fact.. Just like our current Rena.... She’s no different than a kid. She doesn’t know what she’s doing even when she’s killing.. And then there’s the second type.. The ones with a crystal clear mind.. It’s the fact that they knew just how insane their own ideas were which made them very dangerous.. Despite that, they wouldn’t have the thought that they’re wrong. These kind of people would actually think that their ideas are right all the time and everybody else is wrong. Miyawaki Sakura falls under the second type of insanity. Any disapproval to her ideas would end up in a fatal encounter.. Just like the 14 Reapers... Poor them.. All they did was just call her crazy.. And they were in the same class as us..”
“She was a complete loner back in the Legion. She doesn’t socialize with anybody or anything. She just sits in the corner of the hall the whole time. She never attended any of the exams. Nobody knew what’s going on in her mind.. Until Atsuko befriended her...” Takamina stopped suddenly.
Atsuko hesitantly continued. “I told her that she should understand people more in detail if she wanted more friends..... I never knew she had a twisted idea based on my words..... She took one person apart...literally. Pieces by pieces.. Just to get a glimpse of how it works... To ‘understand them in detail’.”
Yuki gulped. “Are you serious..”
“It probably was my mistake to start talking to her in the first place.. Ever since that day, she claimed that she had reached enlightenment from taking people apart..” Atsuko started groaning in pain all over again. “I think that’s all you should know about Miyawaki Sakura.”
“....” Yuki was completely speechless from the urban legend that came to life.
“I managed to take this from her..” Atsuko unclipped the Judgement she took from Sakura earlier and showed it. “The very weapon she used to murder and skin innocent people.. This Judgement..”
Yuki felt goosebumps once again. “I don’t know why but I’m feeling more uncomfortable with this Miyawaki Sakura compared to Cybers and Spectres..”
“Just stick with me and you’ll be safe.” Takamina stated. Though it seemed as if Takamina was trying to brag that she was powerful enough to protect them, it actually sounded pretty legit and convincing. Knowing that she is the legendary Reaper, she could actually be telling the truth.
“Not only we have the Cybers and Spectres to deal with now, we have to deal with a deranged serial killer as well..” Yuki scoffed.
“With a serial killer on the move, we just need to be more alert in our surroundings.” Takamina said before tilting her head down at Atsuko who was laying peacefully on her lap. She then wiped Atsuko’s excess sweat. “How’s your wound?”
“I’ll live. This will heal soon..” Atsuko explained and smiled a little.
“We have to stop this bleeding first..” Takamina said as she tore the side of her shirt and wrapped it around the wounded area.
“I can see your tummy now.” Atsuko giggled a little.
“This isn’t the first time you saw it anyway so it doesn’t bother me.” Takamina merely shrugged it off with her half exposed stomach.
“Well then it seems like my plans will be delayed a little..” Yuki stated.
“What plans?” Atsuko asked.
“A masterplan.” Yuki winked. “Get all the rest you can, Atsuko sensei.. My masterplan might need all of us in our top form..”
Atsuko squinted a little. “Wait... You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, right?”
“Well... You do know the whereabouts of the Spectre headquarters right?” Yuki shrugged.
Atsuko’s eyes widened in shock. “You’re not thinking about charging straight into the enemy’s nest, are you?”
“Precisely.. We might have new problems surfacing but the most important thing to do now is to get Paru back. And we can’t do that without a little risk.. Who knows, maybe that Jurina you were searching for is there as well.” Yuki explained.
“ARE YOU O- argh!” Atsuko accidentally placed too much pressure on her stomach. “Are you out of your mind!? Do you even know what you’re dealing with!? Minami, say something!” Atsuko tried convincing Takamina to hold Yuki back.
Takamina nodded and tilted her head up at Yuki. “Do not take the words out of my mouth next time.”
Spectre HQItano slammed the door open and confronted Annin straight on. “What did you do to that Jurina!?”
Annin who was reading a book about humans closed the book with a single hand and looked up at the angry Spectre calmly before opening her mouth. “You have guts barging into my room with that tone.”
Annin was merely saying it in a calm and normal tone and yet it sounded so intimidating already. The dark aura surrounding Annin was overwhelming. Itano shut herself up immediately. “S-Sorry.... I just wanted to know what happened to Jurina.”
“.......” Annin remained silent for a moment and brought the book back up to her face. “Why does it matter to you?”
After gulping, she stated in a confident tone. “Because if you killed her, I am not going to forgive you.. I have said too many times that I must be the one to kill her.”
“And what would you do if I told you that she died?” Annin answered without even breaking eye contact with the book.
“.....” As expected, it wasn’t a Beta’s position to question their Alpha. Itano merely kept quiet.
“Well?”
“..............Forgive me. I will just take my leave now.” Itano bowed a little before turning back.
“She’s still alive.”
That single statement made Itano stop in her tracks for a moment and shot a smirk to herself “Good..” and left the room.
Miyuki who happen to be walking along the hallways saw Itano and called out to her. “Ah... Itano~ Let’s go somewhere toda-”
Before Miyuki could finish, Itano knocked past her shoulder without even answering back. “...”
“Hey, watch where you’re going!” Miyuki complained and rolled her eyes before someone at the far side of the hall caught her attention.
“Kojiharu~~” Miyuki ran towards her direction and hopped on her back. “You’re not doing anything else today are you?”
“Well, I’m actually going t-”
“If you’re gonna say that you’re going out with Yuko, then save it because she isn’t in headquarters now. So, let’s go!” Miyuki clung on Kojiharu’s arm.
“Uhm no.. I was gonna say that I’m going to the kitchen to prepare Yuko’s favourite food so she can eat when she returns~ Maybe next time, Miyuki. I’m sorry.” Kojiharu said. “Why don’t you ask Sayanee? She’d be glad to go out with you, right?”
“Meh... Ever since that Shimazaki Haruka came, she had been paying less attention to me. So I gave up asking her.” Miyuki shrugged.
“As much as I want to go out with you, I’m just not free now, Miyuki..”
Miyuki rolled her eyes. “Yeah yeah yeah... Always about Yuko. Yuko here, Yuko there. You do realize that Yuko would still treat you like crap even after all you do right?”
“I know.. But I don’t mind.” Kojiharu smiled. “I just like doing stuff for her and make her happy.”
“Our job as a Beta is to assist our respective Alphas, not be their nanny or slave.” Miyuki explained.
“I’ll do what I want, Miyuki. Don’t teach me how to be a good Beta.” Kojiharu poked Miyuki’s forehead. “I’m not gonna discuss about this anymore. Bye bye~”
“.......” Miyuki was speechless that she was left alone once again. That was when she saw Katsuzetsu walking along the hallway. “Hey hey, Haruppi! We haven’t chatted ever since you came back two days ago! Where have you been all these time?” Miyuki hopped over towards Katsuzetsu excitedly.
Katsuzetsu frowned a little as she saw the hyperactive Miyuki making her way towards her. “You seem.........jolly.” As usual, Katsuzetsu had a lollipop in her mouth.
“What’s wrong with that?” Miyuki blinked her eyes in a cute manner.
“You were a little more.....different the last time I saw you.”
Miyuki had some thought. “I don’t really understand what you’re talking about?”
“Hmm... Maybe I remembered it wrongly..”
“Of course you would! You haven’t been around for a long period of time! And you haven’t answered my question yet!” Miyuki puffed her cheeks.
“On a long holiday.”
“I don’t believe you.” Miyuki folded her arms.
“I don’t think I remember reporting my whereabouts to you before this. So what’s with the curiousity?”
“I’m a Beta. That means as of now my rank is higher than you, who have no rank at all, Haruppi. So when I ask you a question, you should answer.”
“I already did. I went on a long holiday.”
“.....” Miyuki felt that she was just wasting her time asking Katsuzetsu to explain her whereabouts these past few years.
“If you’re done then I think I’m just gonna return to my room.”
“Nonono wait!” It seemed like Miyuki wanted company so badly so she decided to change the topic so that Katsuzetsu would stay with her longer. “So how do you feel being back here? Hmmm? Now that you’re back here, Omega would most likely give the remaining Alpha rank to you since Annin convinced her to let go of Atsuko as the Alpha..” Miyuki smiled brightly.
Katsuzetsu continued sucking on her lollipop. “To tell the truth, I have no absolute interest in rankings.. I don’t need a rank to get a job done.”
“I see... So... How was your holiday?” Miyuki shrugged.
“You know what? I feel like you’re just wasting my time here. Bye bye.”
“Wai-” Before Miyuki could even complete her sentence, Katsuzetsu had already pushed a lollipop into her mouth, shutting her up immediately.
“Do not disturb me, okay?” Katsuzetsu shot one last smile before making her way back into her room.
“.....” Once again, Miyuki became speechless as she looked upon Katsuzetsu’s back. She then shrugged. “Oh well... Nobody wants to come close to me anyway..”
As soon as Katsuzetsu’s silhouette was gone, the expression on Miyuki’s face changed. Her cutesy smile changed to an unamused look. When she exhaled, there was a hint of green in her breath. “Let’s see how long you can hide your secret, Haruppi..”
Her green breath quickly turned white as the surroundings got colder suddenly. As she felt the cold atmosphere, Miyuki quickly reverted back to her cutesy self and hopped back into her room.
Paru felt her surroundings get colder than before. She could even see that her breath was turning white. It was at that very moment where she heard someone walking down the steps. Paru felt weird. The footsteps had a different feeling than when the other Spectres entered. As the footsteps got louder, her body got colder. As the silhouette came closer and stood under the light, her face was revealed. It was a very beautiful lady with pale white skin and red hot lips. Her red eyes made her overall look even sexier. Despite that, it doesn’t bother Paru at all. She merely looked away and kept silent. “...”
And then a smile crawled upon the lady’s lips as the back of her fingers traced Paru’s cheek. “My dear.....Shimazaki.....Haruka....”
Paru could literally feel chills being sent to all parts of her body with that single icy touch. “............ What do you want from me?”
“What do you mean what do I want from you?” She said slowly with a soft and gentle tone before locking eyes with Paru. “What else can I want from you?”
“......” Paru blinked for a moment and looked away because of the awkwardness of the atmosphere.
“Such soft.........smooth.........beautiful skin......” Her fingers slowly moved down towards Paru’s neck which happened to be bruised by Sasshi during the fight earlier on. With a trace of her finger, the bruise went away almost immediately.
Paru could feel the effect right away. Her neck muscles felt less tensed than before. In that instant, she placed her hand over her own neck before looking at the lady once again. “You just healed me...”
“Why that’s one of my abilities as the Omega...”
“As I thought... You’re the Omega..”
“Just call me Yui.” She smiled.
“That healing power you just did to me.... I did that earlier too...” Paru frowned and shook her head. “How is this possible?”
“Paru, my dear child....” Yui caressed Paru’s cheek softly. “This world is filled with countless possibilities.. So why can’t this be possible?”
“But how!? I’m a human! How can I have those kind of weird powers!?”
“Sayaka....” One word from Yui’s mouth made Paru speechless. “Does that name sound familiar to you?”
Paru frowned a little at Yui’s face. “Sayaka? Akimoto Sayaka? She’s my mom... You know her?”
A smile crawled upon Yui’s face as she placed her face next to Paru’s. The latter could feel the cold aura radiating from the Omega’s skin. She then whispered gently. “Funny.... I too have a daughter named Sayaka..”
Paru’s eyes widened in shock for a short moment before she shook it off. “What, so you’re saying that my mom is a Spectre now? And that she is your daughter? PUH-LEASE!! I can even lie better than you!”
“Hmm...” Yui tilted her head and stroked Paru’s chin. “So skeptical... Just like Sayaka..”
Paru flinched away. She was completely enraged. “Hey, stop it! Don’t speak as if my mom really is a Spectre because she is not! She’s a human!”
“You think so?” Yui smiled. “What makes you so sure?”
“If she was a Spectre, I would have known! I’m her daughter!” Paru raised her voice. “And her eyes are black! Unlike yours! They’re red!”
“They’re black? You mean.....” The red in Yui’s eyes suddenly switched color to black. “like this?”
Paru’s eyes widened in shock. “T-T-This can’t be.... H-How!? How are you able to change your eye color to black!?”
“There’s a lot more things you don’t know yet...” Yui smiled and tilted Paru’s head up slowly. “Would you like to find out more?”
Chapter 19 : Insanity
END
Topic: [Atsuko_love's fanfic] The Ultimatum - CHAPTER 27 (multipairing) 31/03/2016 (Read 158410 times)