Faiz 7

A month had passed since the barbeque party at Yuuji’s place.

Ever since that day he met Yuka, Keitarou had been getting sloppy with work. 

He’d do things like accidentally getting the iron on his hands or delivering to the wrong place.  

There was no doubt that he had completely fallen for her. 

This is at least way better than him going crazy over that penpal with the weird “CloudyThenSunny” username, Mari and Takumi told each other. 

From what Mari could see, Keitarou’s love was the genuine thing. 

After all, he had mastered sign language in just a month so that he could talk with the mute Yuka. 

After gaining more confidence in his sign language, he pleaded with Mari over the possibility of a double date. The idea would be of course that whenever Yuuji and Mari went out on a date together, they’d bring Yuka along, and then Keitarou would join in as well. 

But Mari had her own worries to deal with. She wanted to treasure the time she spent with Yuuji. 

She had been going out on dates with Yuuji about once or twice per week, but she couldn’t help but still feel a wall behind them. A wall that she didn’t know who created. Maybe both of them created it. In order to discover the truth behind that wall, she wanted their dates to be just between the two of them. 

If it was Mari who created the wall, then it would have to be because she never opened up about her past. 

The past that included her time at Ryusei School. The past that she never shared because she didn’t want to be pitied. 

As she thought about that, her cellphone rang. 

She heard a familiar and nostalgic voice from it. 

It was her teacher from Ryusei School. She found herself surprised at the coincidence. 

He said that he had something important to talk to her about, and that he wanted to meet with her soon. 

Despite how nostalgic the voice was, Mari couldn’t feel any joy. 

Something important? What could that be? 

She had a bad feeling about it. 

 

After having his double date request turned down by Mari, Keitarou decided he had to resort to his final option. 

He would pretend to run into Yuka coincidentally. 

First, he waited in front of her apartment. But many days passed without Yuka showing up whatsoever. 

Keitarou then bought a pair of binoculars and spied at Yuka’s room from the roof of a nearby apartment building. 

The curtains were closed so he couldn’t see anything. He felt like a stalker. 

So he decided to talk to Takumi about it. 

“Yeah, that’s totally something a stalker would do.” 

He was instantly rebuked. 

Even so, Keitarou continued to wait for Yuka to appear. 

He put on sunscreen to protect himself from the harsh sun and patiently waited under his parasol.

 

It was on the evening of the 21st day since Keitarou began his stakeouts when Yuka finally appeared. 

By that time, Keitarou was heavily tanned, despite his measures taken against the ultraviolet rays. 

He was so tanned that he was worried that Yuka wouldn’t recognize him. He was so caught up over that possibility that he never found the courage to call out to her and eventually lost sight of her. 

He hated himself. He felt so pathetic that he cried. 

He went as far as to wish he got killed by an Orphnoch. 

Feeling completely dejected at this point, right as he turned the corner on his way back home, he ran into Yuka. 

He panicked for a moment. He spat on his hands and rubbed them on his face. 

He wanted to get rid of the tan or else Yuka wouldn’t recognize him. 

Yuka looked at Keitarou’s face with a curious look, and then suddenly giggled. 

It was thanks to that smile that Keitarou was able to regain his composure. 

Upon taking a closer look, he noticed that Yuka’s blouse was stained with blood and found himself shocked. 

Various traces of blood were spread about here and there like flower petals on her white blouse. 

“What’s wrong? Did you get hurt?” 

Yuka calmly shook her head no. 

It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. 

But it wasn’t normal for someone to have blood on them.

Keitarou kept repeating his question, to which Yuka had to continue shaking her head no to. 

Finally, Yuka decided to take off her blouse completely to show Keitarou that she was uninjured. 

She rolled up the blouse she took off into a ball and threw it into the river next to them. 

And then she began walking again. 

“W-Wait, Yuka! You shouldn’t be doing that!” 

With his head spinning in confusion over these consecutive surprises, he took off his t-shirt and put it on Yuka. 

 

Keitarou dragged Yuka and brought her to a boutique in the shopping district. 

It was so that he could give Yuka clothes as a present. Upon thinking about it, he realized that things had been unfolding in the perfect way. Not only was he able to call out to Yuka, he even got the chance to see her underclothes. 

And now they were at a boutique together, like they were a lovey-dovey couple. 

As he looked for clothes for Yuka, Keitarou remembered Mari’s words. 

She’s really pretty but her clothes are lame, was what she said. 

Keitarou tried picking out a brand-name dress. He had heard things about the brand from Mari. 

Girls love it, but they never buy it because it’s too expensive, she said. 

I’m sure Mari wouldn’t have anything to complain about this, right? 

Once he saw Yuka come out of the dressing room, Keitarou felt like his eyes were about to pop out. 

The slender purple dress just fit her so well. 

He wanted to take a picture with his cellphone but he didn’t say anything out of fear of being seen as a creep. 

As they walked along the sidewalk together after leaving the boutique, many people caught themselves stealing glances at Yuka. 

They didn’t even manage to walk 200 meters before having someone from a model agency try to scout her and a flirtatious man hit on her. It was quite rude of them, considering Keitarou was right next to her. 

Keitarou barked like a dog to chase them away. 

 

Yuka spent the whole time wandering about while looking at her surroundings with curious eyes. 

This was her very first time walking together with a man like this. 

She was rarely ever allowed outside when she lived at her uncle’s house, and she was usually too scared to go outside when she started living at Yuuji’s apartment. 

She sometimes sneaked out every once in a while, but she always tried to get her errands done as soon as possible and headed straight back home. 

Yuka was scared of other people. She was scared of the world. 

That was why she spent most of her time in the corner of her room watching television with her arms around her knees. 

She of course talked with Yuuji and Naoya every now and then. Naoya always blasted her with nonsense one-sidedly, but Yuuji quickly learned sign language and listened to what Yuka would have to say. 

But those two were special. They were Orphnochs as well, making them her family. 

Yuka felt that both Yuuji and Naoya lived disconnected from the world. 

Just like herself. 

But Yuka wanted to involve herself with the world to the best of her ability. 

She hated that she always shut herself in her room. 

Her contradicting feelings were probably what led her to make an email penpal in secret without telling Yuuji or Naoya. 

Yuuji had bought a cellphone for Yuka in case anything happened, but at first, Yuka felt that she didn’t need something like that. She didn’t have anyone that would call her, after all. 

There was nothing more useless and lonely than a cellphone that wouldn’t ring.  

But one day she learned about email penpals from a magazine Yuuji bought for her. 

She grew interested. This might be something even I can do. Even though I’m a scaredy-cat. 

Even though no one loves me. Even though I’m mute. 

Through the magazine, Yuka made an email penpal for the very first time in her life. 

That penpal’s username was “DefenderOfJustice” 

 

When Keitarou reached Yuka’s apartment and was about to see her off, his heart felt heavy. 

He wanted to stay with her more, but at the same time, he also felt that his nose would start bleeding if he kept this up any longer. 

He couldn’t even remember what they were talking about while they were walking. 

It took everything he had just to walk without his legs collapsing down on him.

Yuka looked at him with a curious look and then signed with her hands. 

Thanks for everything today. I had fun. 

“O-Oh, no, it was nothing…” Keitarou’s shrill voice squeezed out in response. 

Yuka was surprised that Keitarou could understand her sign language. 

“D-Do you think we could meet up again some time?” 

Before Yuka could respond, Keitarou ran away. He was scared of her reply. 

As he scrambled off while almost tripping over his own legs, Yuka watched him with her head slightly tilted. 

What a strange person, Yuka thought. I’ve never met anyone like him before. 

Everyone Yuka had interacted with so far would often look down on her. 

Her uncle, Michiko, Naoya, and even Yuuji. But Keitarou was different. 

If anything, he was looking up at her. 

Yuka was reminded of the ants. The ants that crawled around on the floor of her uncle’s basement. 

Keitarou resembled the ants. How many times had Yuka squashed those ants with her fingertips? 

 

“Welcome back.” 

Yuuji greeted Yuka who had returned home. 

He was a bit surprised upon seeing Yuka’s dress, but he didn’t ask about it. 

“I’m glad that you’re spending time out of the house, but I can’t help but be a little worried. Bring me with you next time.” 

Yuka didn’t exactly like that idea, but she entered her room without saying anything and shut the door. 

She took off the dress Keitarou bought for her, put it on the hangar, and sat down on her bed in her underwear. 

Yuuji didn’t know anything. 

She had secretly left her room multiple times up to now. 

Whenever she heard that scream. 

Her mother’s horrible scream carved deep within her consciousness would occasionally resurface within her head. 

It inflicted pain that threatened to tear apart her body. 

It felt like it sent her tumbling down towards the depths of the darkness. 

Whenever that happened, Yuka would quietly leave the house. 

 

When she heard her mother’s scream, Yuka would head for the most secluded place she could find and transform into an Orphnoch. 

She’d then attack people one after the other. She needed to hear the screams of other people. 

The screams of others would eventually drown out her mother’s scream. 

They would blot each other out. 

Yuka needed to do that in order to survive. 

 

Yuka remembered that Keitarou noticed a bloodstain on her clothes when they ran into each other. 

She once again examined her body in front of the mirror. 

It’s fine, there aren’t any traces left from the slaughters. 

Yuka sat back down on the bed and let out a small sigh. 

She then took out her cell phone and began typing out an email. 

“Defender of Justice, how are you doing? I just came back from school right now. One of my best friends said I should enter a club with her, so I was watching the tennis club practice. But one of my other friends also asked me to enter the badminton club, so I’m a bit torn on what to do.” 

As she typed, Yuka recalled the school uniform she adored so much. 

She imagined life at school. 

“I have a lot of friends. They’re all really dear to me. They’re my precious treasures.” 

Yuka continued to type her fake email. 

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