Chapter 3

Yui walked out of the shower, expecting to see Ayato there, but he was nowhere to be found. Instead, she saw the other redhead – the one with the fedora.

She glanced left and right.

"Ah? Ayato isn't here.." She murmured softly, thinking that he would definitely be waiting for her there, after all that he said about continuing from where they left off in the bathroom. She blushed at the thought of it.

"What was that, bitch-chan? Were you disappointed that it's me?" Laito laughed.

"No- I just thought that he would be here, cuz he-" She paused for a while. "Ah, it's nothing much."

"Oh? What did he do to you, bitch-chan?"

Laito stepped closer to her.

"Look at that fearful expression. I can't wait to see what kind of expression you'd make when you submit to me."

Oh god, he's creepy as always. Yui screamed inside her head and picked up her dirty clothes, then ran out to put them in the laundry. Laito, who was left standing there in her room, gave only a smirk and adjusted his fedora, pulling it down slightly with one hand.

Yui ran through the corridors, down the stairs, dumped her clothes in the laundry basket, and sighed, panting after all that effort. I wonder if I could ever get used to this, she thought. At least now she felt like she got along better with the others, and could stand up for herself a teeny bit better.

She walked out and turned around a corner, about to go back to her room, when she bumped straight into Laito. He appeared out of nowhere again!

"You can't run from me, bitch-chan. I know everything about you." He said, with the same playful voice.

Yui let out a soft whimper as she distanced herself from him. It wasn't like she was running away, she knew there was nowhere to run. She just didn't want to deal with him for now.

"What shall we do with you then, bitch-chan?" Laito pushed her down onto a nearby couch.

"What are you going to do?" Yui demanded, as Laito trapped her from running elsewhere.

"Hmm? I wonder?"

Help me! She screamed mentally. Somebody, Anybody! I don't think I want to get used to this after all.

"What the hell are you doing to what belongs to Yours Truly!?" a low growl sounded across the room.

Yui opened one eye to look over at the other redhead. Thank goodness.

"Oi! I was called by Reiji to do something, and you dare touch her? Don't think that you can do anything you want just 'cuz I went away for a while! Yours Truly saw her first! She's mine!" Ayato grumpily stated his claim on helpless Yui.

Wait, even if I've been temporarily saved by Ayato, who's gonna save me from him later? Yui got a little depressed by that sudden realization. It's just a vicious cycle.

Laito sighed and got up, raising both his hands as if surrendering to Ayato's dominance.

"It's not nice to hog her all to yourself, you know."

"I don't care!" Ayato yelled, like the spoilt brat he is.

Laito laughed it off and said "Well, I think it's about time for dinner, don't you think? We'd better get there soon or Reiji won't be pleased."

He then glanced back at Yui, giving her another seductive grin, then walked off.

Okay, saved by dinner time. Yui let out a relieved breath.

/After dinner/

Rubbing her belly gently after a sumptuous dinner, Yui decided to take a walk in the garden. She admired the pretty red roses and breathed in the cool fresh air. This place isn't all that bad.

That was when she caught a glimpse of a certain purple haired boy.

Just that everyone here is after my blood. And my life.

"Kanato, I'm sorry, I need to go, I think Reiji wants to lecture me about something!" She quickly came up with a ridiculous excuse to leave, then turned and walked.

"Why are you running away!?" Yui could hear Kanato's demanding voice resounding in the walls of her mind.

"No, no! I just really need to work on my table manners!" She cried, her pace quickly picked up till she was running as fast as she could.

The peculiar boy was trying to make her do something absurd again. She still remembered the last time he showed her all those 'wax figurines ', she barely made it out of there alive. This time, what did he want to do again? Dig graves?

Yui shuddered at the thought, running from the garden into the mansion through the large double doors. She continued to run through the hallways in the excessively large mansion, not taking any regard as to where she was going. She just needed to run, for now. She turned around a corner after a few dark corridors, then reached for the nearest door.

SLAM!

Yui quickly ran in and shut the door.

She pressed her back against the hard wood, her hands wrapped around the doorknob behind her. Her knees were trembling, her breathing ragged. Adrenaline was pumping through her body. She took in deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. Everyone's after her in this household.

"He's...not following me." Yui mumbled to herself as she pressed her ear against the door to listen for any footsteps.

"Keep it down." Came a familiar voice.

Yui jumped slightly and covered her mouth with both her hands. There was someone here? By the voice of the speaker, she could tell it was the eldest son of the family. She looked across the room. Surely enough, she saw him lying down comfortably on a bed at the other end of the room, with his earphones plugged into his ears as always. He had on his usual school shirt, beige sweater and black blazer draped around his shoulders. He always looked so peaceful and relaxed, unlike the others.

"I'm sorry.." She whispered, softly but loud enough for Shu to hear.

Seeing that Shu was just being himself, lazing around as always, she quickly relaxed. She then looked around the unknown room she had just entered, realising that she had intruded on Shu's quiet afternoon. The room was dimly lit, random belongings were scattered around on a table, and some on the floor. She looked at Shu, wondering if he was annoyed at her sudden appearance, or just didn't care.

"This place, is it..." She asked. It looked like someone's room.

"When I slept outside, you told me to sleep in my room. And now that I'm here, are you going to tell me to sleep somewhere else again?"

Oh, it was his room after all.

"No, I didn't mean to-" she was cut off again while trying to explain why she was here.

"Stop pestering me."

Yui kept quiet. It wasn't like she was pestering him on purpose though.
Did he think I was pestering him? He was annoyed after all, wasn't he. I didn't come here on purpose though. Should I just apologise and get out? Kanato shouldn't be anywhere near..

"Come over here" Shu said after a while, waking her out of her thoughts.

Yui walked cautiously over beside him.

"Y-yes?"

Shu turned his head towards her and opened his eyes. Still the same emotionless face. And then, a playful smirk appeared.

"You liked it, didn't you." He asked, his gaze never leaving hers.

"Liked what?"

"Being hugged to sleep by me."

The surprised girl blushed at the sudden reminder of what happened that time.

"I- No, I didn't really..."

"Though we were unpleasantly woken up by the ruckus made by that possessive freak."

Yui looked like she was deep in thought for a while.

"Actually, Ayato, earlier, he followed me to the shower, and he.. I don't know, he was just being weird, and Laito, too." As Shu mentioned the "possessive freak", she was thought of the series of events involving Ayato forcing himself on her, and unknowingly blurted out her troubles to Shu.

"Why are you telling me all that? I won't hunt them down for you like that Ayato."

"That wasn't my intention though.. I just wanted someone to talk to."

"Oh." Shu didn't say anything more.

"..." Yui only continued to stare at him, not sure of how to respond.

Its not like she didn't expect Shu to be so cold to her, he had always been like that after all. With the exception of that last time they slept together...
But Shu seems like a gentle person after all, she thought. Why is he so cold to everyone?

She knelt down to face him on the same level and admired his features in that moment, his eyes were a light ocean blue, emotionless but deep and captivating, hiding unknown feelings behind an impenetrable wall so that no one will ever discover. And his hair, it was such a pretty shade of light orange-blonde. It was slightly curly and messy, covering just a bit of his eyes. Caught in the moment, Yui reached out a hand and started ruffling his hair gently. Light coloured strands mixed with the darker ones, her fingers bewitched by its softness. So fluffy, so smooth, and the colour, looks just like..a golden retriever! Yui let out a small giggle as the thought crossed her mind.

"You keep denying, trying to maintain your purity in the name of god, but yet I can smell the strong desires that you harbour from 10 miles away."

Yui gasped and got out of her trance. She quickly retracted her hand, realising that she just did something rather out of place.

"I don't have those desires that you speak of." She was being so obviously obvious in her actions just now. Nevertheless, she tried to defend herself.

Shu's face remained expressionless. He was completely unamused. Is this girl serious?

"You were staring at me so intently."

Yui reddened.

"You still are." He added.

The embarrassed girl quickly turned away from him, thoroughly slapping herself mentally for being so careless. Her eyes darted across the room, and she saw something like a photo from under his bed, half exposed, half hidden.

"Hmm?" In her attempt to change the subject and partially due to her curiosity, she reached out to take the photo. "This person is...?"

"Don't touch that!" Shu almost yelled, and snatched the photo out of her hands.

Yui was frozen in shock. She had never seen him so agitated. She saw a glimpse of it. That, was a photo of him and his mother, right? So he still thinks of his mother, Yui thought and smiled to herself. He must have wanted to keep it a secret, and didn't want anyone else to know.

"S-Shu...?"

She stayed there, kneeling down on the floor, in between Shu's legs. Shu was half kneeling behind her, trapping Yui between him and the bed, and in his right hand he held the photo high out of her reach. His body was so close to her back that she could feel the warmth from his clothes and hear his breathing above her head. With a twitch of his eyebrow, Shu crushed the photo with one hand and threw it across the room.

"You didn't have to do that..." Yui spoke really softly, feeling apologetic that she just made him destroy something so precious. She turned her head back to look at Shu, but he covered her eyes with his other hand and turned her head back to face the front, away from him.

"It doesn't matter anymore." His voice was cold and steady, back to his usual tone. Yui couldn't tell what he was feeling.

"Shu, are you okay? I'm really sorry."

"I already told you it doesn't matter anymore."

For a while they were both quiet, Shu's hand never uncovering her eyes. With a quick twist of her body, she turned around and wrapped her arms around him tightly. Sensing his surprise, she looked up, only to see the same emotionless face.
He seems fine. Or is he?
Yui felt familiar long arms cover her body in a tight hug. She responded by tightening her arms around him as well.

"I won't tell anyone." Yui reassured him.

Shu chuckled softly.

"I know..."