Since the same classes were taken on Monday as they were on Friday, Lawrence thought it was a pretty safe bet to say that Mark would be taking the same paths as he did on Friday. Thus, waiting near the library where he saw him with the glass the first time would probably work out. He almost wasn’t prepared when he saw him walk out of the Creighton building. He looked tired. There was possibly a tinge of sadness in his walk as well.

“Wait!”

Lawrence walked right up to him.

“Mark, we need to talk.”

“Looks like I was right. We’ve met again.”

“Anyone that can see Youkai will probably stick around someone else that can see them I’m sure. But I’m not here to stick around you. I’m here to learn about why you hate Youkai so much.”

“Those fucking thi-”

He stopped and looked around to see a bunch of students looking at them weirdly as they walked by. They decided to bring the conversation to a cafe and talk. Lucky there was even one on campus.

“Youkai may act like they are your friend.But trust in my experience. Almost every Youkai around has been on this Earth for thousands of years. They have lived through love and hate and death. They’ve become numb to caring and charity. Now, they only care if something is “interesting”. You really think a Youkai could care less about you? They decide whether you are interesting enough to keep alive or not and if you aren’t, they simply eat you and go on with their daily business. Killing seems to be such a normal thing for them after all.”

“Both Youkai and humans have their bad eggs. There are evil Youkai, just as there are evil humans. But you can’t label all of them as bad. I’ve seen some lovely Youkai in my time.”

“You should know that your bird here is only with you since you interest her. As soon as you’re gone she couldn’t care less. Not to mention that if you become stagnant she will probably do you off herself.”

“I would never! He is my master! Lawrence is the only human or Youkai that has ever… looked at me…”

Hato shrunk behind her fourth of a mask and sipped her drink.

“Just look at Hato if you want proof of good Youkai. She’s the best there is. It’s because of her that I can’t accept your hatred of them.”

Hato blushed even more and looked down.

“On the off-chance you are correct, and this bird really does love you, that doesn’t change the facts. So what if one Youkai is still innocent? The vast majority couldn’t care less about killing us. You need to get rid of that dangerous attitude.”

With that, Mark paid for his drink and left, leaving the receipt on the table. Lawrence took the receipt and checked for a name.

“Mark Lieberman… Hato I have an idea. Let’s go.”

“H-he said…”

“Yes he said some harsh things, but it’s fine. C’mon.”

Soon they were in front of the police station.

“Police?”

Lawrence simply walked inside without saying a word and walked up to the front desk. An older man leaned over it with a toothpick in his mouth and looked over at him.

“Whatcha need.”

“I’m wondering if you know anything about a man named Mark Lieberman.”

“Lieberman? Yeah I know about him. Why do you need to know exactly?”

“He’s… my partner in a project… I’m a criminal science major.”

“Oh? This one uh them background check project things? Go round and ask folk what they know?”

“Yeah, you get it!”

“Ah, I had a coupla friends did that, I spose it don’t lead to any harm if I tell ya a bit bout him.”

“Thank you sir I would really appreciate it.”

“Yeah... he was a kid ‘round here while back. When he was a kid people’d think he was always makin’ up fantasies. Hell, he’d go around runnin’ from nothing and you might be talkin’ to him when he’d just up and run away , ‘fraid as hell.”

“Is that what most people thought of him?”

“What else could we think? A kid more in some horror reality than our own isn’t normal I say. But after his parents most people kina gave him some lenience you know. I started havin ta hang around him after that little incident as well.”

“What happened with his parents?”

“Oh you don’t know? The Lieberman’s were killed in their house ‘bout fifteen years ago. Both stabbed to death, musta been a real nutcase. Saddest part was the killer was never found. Musta cleaned up his tracks so good the private investigators or the criminal department couldn’t find ‘im. Yeah, boy was the one that found ‘em. Walkin into your house after school to find your parents in an ocean of their own blood. Course he was passed ‘round through the family after that, never had a normal childhood I spose. I was the one assigned to bring him to his parents a coupla times, and knew him round the neighborhood. Absolutely terrible stuff.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Lawrence appeared as if he had a revelation. Hato looked down wondering what he was thinking. She had an inkling about what could be happening, but she didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. Especially with him.

“Thank you for your help.”

“Not at all kid.”

Lawrence walked out of the police station and turned to Hato, taking her by the shoulders.

“We need Oku, now.”

“I-I thought you didn’t want to get her involved since she was against it!”

“Circumstances have changed. I know exactly what is going on.”

After a short while they found Oku sleeping on a bench under the trees in her Youkai form. Lawrence woke her and told of the things they had learned from the police.

“You went towards him after I explicitly told you to stay away?”

“Yes, but this is going to help him. Trust me. Please.”

Oku looked at him with her brazen vermillion eyes. She sighed, but sniffed at the air. Then she took on a smaller version of her fox form.

“He’s this way. Get on.”

Hato and Lawrence got on her back, and she flew up into the sky. Looking down upon the campus from the air was a really strange experience. Oku’s eyes scanned the area for a while, then focused on a certain area. Once she had pinpointed his location, she took a nosedive towards the area where she then landed right in front of him. Mark fell on his ass and looked scared at the large fox in front of him.

“What the hell!”

Luckily nobody was around, or they would have seen Lawrence get off of air. He jumped down and faced Mark.

“Tell me why you hate Youkai.”

“After you jump off an enormous fox?!”

“Answer me, I need to help you.”

“Why?!”

“Because I can, and because we can both see Youkai. People like us need to stick together.”

Mark just shook his head and sat down at a bench behind him. After rolling his eyes, he gestured for Lawrence to sit down across from him.

“Alright, alright. Here’s my reason. One killed my parents. Shitty, huh?”

“How.”

“I don’t know, stabbed them. The room was covered in blood… and so was she. She was standing on top of their bodies, you think anyone else could have done it? The door was locked from the inside, and only me and my parents knew where the key was.”

“So you automatically assume she did it?”

“She was my friend dammit, I didn’t want to think she did it, but if you were young like that and your parents were lying dead on the floor you’d assume a lot too. I yelled at her to leave, and ran outside. That was the last time I even saw her to be honest.”

“That doesn’t give any evidence to why you still hate them…”

“Oh that isn’t the start of it. I was passed around many times through families that thought I was delusional. I saw Youkai in the corners of ceilings, black masses that licked their lips and whispered death threats as I went to sleep. Youkai that sat in my closets and tapped the door until morning, feeding off my fear and insecurity. I would go running from a couple that loved to chase me through the neighborhoods, and I never met one of these so-called “good” Youkai you talk about.”

“What about your friend?”

“Pfft, I’m sure she was just using me too.”

“Did you ever get that idea before becoming a cynic?”

“Oh shut up, you had to have these problems too.”

“Actually, I haven’t been able to see Youkai for my entire life like you have. I don’t have the experience, but what I can say is that I’ve met a lot of wonderful Youkai. I did almost bleed out to one, but another saved my life by healing my wound. Youkai are more like humans that you’d think. On the outside, you see many evil ones feeding off the fear and hatred of humans, but if you befriend one you can see just how caring some of them are. I agree that not all of them are perfect, but humans aren’t either, are they?”

“Obviously, but then you wouldn’t have dealt with everything I have. You wouldn’t have been practically driven to suicide off the incessant taunting. Those things were terrible to me.”

“Then why can’t you give these a chance? Right here, Oku and Hato. Trust me, they’re pretty damn cool.”

Mark looked from Hato to Oku with a somber expression.

“You really aren’t going to budge on this are you.”

Oku huffed and spoke up.

“Afraid that is one of his negative traits, stubbornness.”

“Oku he’s just caring!”

Mark sighed, but Lawrence found it as another good place to speak up.

“Listen, I think we’re both in need of some friends. Human friends at least. Since we can both see them, don’t we kind of have to stick together? What do you say, give it a chance?”

“Definitely can’t deny that I need friends. The bird seems nice at least, but I’m probably just being drawn in again…”

Mark shook Lawrence’s outstretched hand and shook his head as he remembered himself as he’d been before the murder.

He’d been such a cheerful kid. Running across the hills with his only friend, Koko. They went everywhere together, even though his parents couldn’t see her. They simply called Koko an imaginary friend, and treated the Youkai just like a member of the family. Koko loved it, having a family. She would always tell that to Mark. Then he’d come home and seen the blood on the floor, on the walls. Koko was nudging at them with her hands, blood covering her dainty face. When she’d heard Mark come into the kitchen where they lay, she’d looked to him for reassurance, but all Mark remembered was screaming at Koko and saying that he never wanted to see her again. With that, Koko left, crying, alone. Once again. That had left Mark to cower on top of his parents cold bodies. Alone. Alone until the police came to find him hours later.

Shortly after, he’d come to know all the family members whose lives he’d “ruined”. He desperately tried to be a normal child, but would always see the Youkai at the worst times. Getting scolded for something perfectly normal, on a class trip, even during class. They were always there. Taunting him. They hated him, and he had learned to hate them.

But then again… They had no idea he could see them. When he was getting scolded, they were probably just as surprised to see him react to their presence.

He’d always… Hated them.

Too much to even consider them to be…

Nice? No…

At least, not evil.

Not against him.

Not hateful.

A very select few perhaps. He couldn't believe what he was about to say...

“Alright.”

Even Lawrence was surprised.

“Alright?”

“I can't hate them all forever. I taught myself to hate after all.”

“You'll give them a chance?”

“No, I'll give them a chance, and we’ll see where we go from there.”

He pointed at Oku and Hato.

“I suppose that's more than I could have asked for in the first place.”

“Damn right. Now, I'm going home. I’m tired as shit.”

Lawrence then realized he had run all over town just for this guy. He didn't know what tired was…

“Then I'll see you around Mark.”

“You'll be seeing a lot of me Lawrence. I'll go right back to being a bastard if you don't hang around me.”

“Right. I’ll be seeing you.”

With that, Mark turned on one foot and started down the path. Oku, back in human form, walked in front of him.

“So you've taken another stray in then… you can't stop yourself can you?”

Lawrence just shrugged and smiled.

“Ugh I had to get tied up with an idiot like you didn't I…”

With that they started back to his tiny dorm. Hopefully he would be able to fix that situation soon…