“Ryo...?”

Luna’s voice called out to me from the bedroom door.

I was lying on the bed with the blankets over my head and body, turned the other way.

D-did Luna really kill that guy, Kenji, at the park with his own knife…?

I saw the knife that the guy dropped…

It was clean…

Not a single drop of blood…

“Are you asleep, Ryo…?”

…

I didn’t answer.

I was hoping that she would leave if I pretended to be asleep.

Not the best strategy, but I couldn’t think of anything else at that time.

A moment of silence passed, the only sound being that of my heart thumping inside my ears.

Then, the door made a creaking noise, before gently shutting.

I let out a quiet sigh, feeling my body relax slightly, but my mind was still frantic with paranoid thoughts.

Something really wrong was going on here.

Why the hell did Luna have my number?

How the fuck did she know where I lived?

And, more importantly, why the fuck did she carry a knife around with her??

These questions were circling inside my head, but the adrenaline that was still pumping inside my body was making it hard to think.

Suddenly, a quiet footstep sounded, coming my way, and my body went rigidly stiff.

She… she was still in the room?!

Fuck!

And, she was coming over…!

I thought she left the room, but…

Oh god…

What the fuck was going on??

Is she planning to kill me??

…

Another footstep sounded and I tried my best to control my uneven breaths.

I mean… if she was to kill me, then there would probably be no witness to the murder that occurred at the park.

Those group of guys that were with Kenji looked like complete delinquents who probably all held a criminal record.

I doubted that they would go to the police about Kenji’s death…

Another footstep.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

What the hell should I do??

I gripped the blankets in my hands, balling my palms into fists.

Could Luna really…

But, we were having so much fun eating dinner together…

I couldn’t believe that she actually meant to kill Kenji, yet it seemed like the only explanation as much as I tried to refuse to accept it.

Another footstep, and I could now feel her presence standing over me, right at the edge of the bed. From my back, I felt a spine-chilling tension running down as though I could feel her eyes on me.

Oh god, oh god…

My heart was pounding out of control inside my chest, and the pillow that was underneath my head was now damp with sweat.

Jagged breathing came out of my mouth, despite how hard I was trying to keep it under control.

…

I opened my eyes just the tiniest bit, trying to see behind me, but I couldn’t do it without turning my head.

I was ready to defend myself at a second’s notice.

There was a long-drawn out silence, and then…

Suddenly, I felt cold air seeping into the blankets behind my back, and the weight of the bed shifted as another body entered.

Something soft pressed up behind my back, and warm air touched my nape, causing every single strand of hair on my body to stand.

“Ryo…”

The breathing gradually moved to my ear.

“Are you having a nightmare…?”

Every whisper she made sent a chill to the core of my spine. Her petite hands slowly wrapped around my chest, finger by finger.

I was frozen in fear, paralysed, unable to move or even think.

“Don’t worry, Ryo…”

Her hands were tightening, her chest pushing up against me, and her legs touching mine.

“…They’re… All… Going… To… Die.”

At this point, I couldn’t pretend to be asleep any longer.

I wrenched her hands off me, elbowing her body away from me hard, then leaped out of the bed like a madman, my hands flinging at the bed sheets to get them off as though they were spider webs made of acid.

“Fuck, FUCK!”

My mind was in a total state of panic, something akin to an instinctive ‘fight or flight’ mode, and flight was seeming to be the better option here.

The only thing on my mind was that I had to get out of here or die.

“R-Ryo!”

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Luna’s voice returned to normal, calling out to me from behind, but nothing was going to make me stop. Not even if there was a mountain of gold.

I didn’t stop to glance back for even one split second.

My hands swiped at the bedside table, grabbing my keys, then I throttled to the bedroom door amidst the darkness, flinging it open. I didn’t even have time to grab my wallet or phone as I dashed through the living room.

I pulled at the locks of the apartment door, unlocking them in a frenzy, still breathing as though I was running out of air.

Come on, come on!!

My hands were too shaky, too sweaty, as I jerked frantically at the chain lock that I had set. It was supposed to be there to stop people from coming in.

But, somehow it had become a trap, locking me inside the apartment with a monster.

“Fuck!”

I cursed aloud, tugging at the chain with both hands.

What the fuck are you doing, Ryo?!

You can’t even unlock a fucking door??

Loud footsteps started thundering towards me, and my heart was leaping out of my chest, my eyes fixed at the lock.

Hurry, hurry!

Hurry the fuck up!

The chain slid off the lock, and my heart jumped in relief, then I grabbed the door handle, managing to pull it open by a tiny gap, when

A hand reached out, their fingers fastening around my other wrist, clenching hard, and yanked me backwards with a frightening amount of strength.

It felt like my arm was about to rip off, and the door slammed shut in my face as I fell backwards into the force that was dragging me.

At that moment, my heart had stopped, thinking that I was about to die.

There was no vivid flashing imagery of my whole life laid out before me, or the feeling of relief that some people say came to them at near-death experiences.

At that moment.

I felt pure fear.

I crashed backwards into flesh, and at the same time, the person pulled me down to the ground.

My backside hit the floor, and something wrapped around my neck.

Then,

There was silence.

…

I was sitting up on the ground, soaked in sweat, feeling someone clutching onto me from behind.

I didn’t even dare to breathe.

My lungs were hurting from holding onto my breath.

The silence etched on until…

A quiet, almost inaudible sob came from behind me.

It was so quiet that I thought I had imagined it at first, until it happened again, this time louder.

…

I could feel the shoulders of the person behind me starting to shake.

I didn’t know what the fuck was going on.

I didn’t even know if I wanted to know.

Slowly… with dry cracked lips and dilated pupils, I turned my head around…

I saw Luna sitting behind me, hugging me tightly, in the same position that I was, except that I was in between her legs.

Her pale-violet eyes were wet, and she was biting onto her lower lip, trying to not cry. There was a normal expression on her face, in that there was no trace of the madness that I had been expecting.

She looked like the Luna I knew at school, except that she was sobbing.

“I-I’m sorry, Ryo…”

Luna pulled me closer to her, her hands hugging onto my chest.

“Please… don’t go…”

…

What…

What the hell was going on…?

…

Daring to breathe again, I tried to think about the situation logically.

Okay, Ryo…

Just calm down…

Try to act normal. That’s the first thing you gotta do, so that she would let you go…

With that as my plan, I swallowed, easing my dry throat.

“L-Luna…” I said, putting on my best tone of normalcy. “It’s okay… Just let me go…”

“I-I don’t want to let you go… If I let you go, you’ll run…”

…

Fuck.

I flashed her a weak smile.

“I won’t…”

…

Luna was quiet.

The unbearable silence made a strange fear grow inside me, until she spoke again.

“…Do you promise…?”

“H-huh?”

For some reason, some of the things she was saying weren’t making sense to me.

Probably because I was scared shitless.

“I said… do you promise…?”

Her hands were still holding onto me, around my chest.

For some reason, despite her small frame compared to me, I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be able to overpower her.

“If I let you go… you won’t leave me…?” Luna said.

“Of course…” I replied.

Another uncomfortable silence passed, with that same eerie fear growing inside me.

Then, slowly, Luna’s hands were releasing their hold around my chest, and I felt her letting me go, her hands slipping away from me.

There was a primal voice inside me, screaming at me to make a break for it, but my brain was telling me that it would be a bad idea.

Instead, I smiled at Luna, trying to show her that everything was okay.

She blushed, seeing my smile, then leaned her head at my back, her cheek pressing against me.

“I’m sorry, Ryo…” She said. “I did something to scare you away…”

I laughed feebly. “N-no... it’s okay, Luna… everything’s okay…”

If I wanted to get out of this alive, I needed to play it cool.

Don’t do anything to alarm her.

Just go on like before…

“I love you, Ryo.”

H-huh?

I glanced at her, thinking that I had heard the wrong thing.

She stared me in the eye, her cheeks crimson.

“I-I love you…”

…

“…do you love me too…?” She asked.

Um…

I was looking into her eyes, while trying to think of something.

Shit.

I was taking too long.

Let’s just act like I normally would…

“I-it’s a bit early… isn’t it…?” I said.

Suddenly, the expression on Luna’s face changed. She frowned, her eyes slanting at me. There was an eerily blank look in those lively pale-violet eyes.

“…”

What the fuck are you doing, Ryo?

Just agree to it!

Who the fuck cares!

“I mean…” I shuffled my posture, feeling my sweat sticking to the ground. “It’s early, but… I do love you… Luna…”

Her face changed back to normal, almost as quickly as it had turned dark.

“Really??” She asked excitedly.

“…Yes.” I said.

Her face broke out into joy. “I love you sooo much, Ryo…!”

She reached her arms out to hug me. I raised my arm instinctively to block her, but luckily, she didn’t notice.

Her arms wrapped around me again, clutching onto me tightly.

“O-okay, that’s enough now…” I said.

I tried to pull her arms away, but instantly felt how strong she was.

Good idea I didn’t try to fight her.

It was like trying to tug away at a steel pole.

How the fuck was she so strong?

“Please always stay with me, Ryo…”

My back was still facing her and she was hugging me from behind, her head on my shoulders, whispering.

“Don’t leave me…”

“I won’t…” I said, glancing at the door. I was about two steps away from it.

“Let’s go back to bed then.” Luna said, releasing her hold of me. “I was planning to surprise you before. I thought you would want to sleep together.”

“Back to bed…?”

Fuck, I was so close to the door.

Luna nodded with a playful smile, then picked herself up from the ground.

How was I going to get out of this one…?

The answer was I wasn’t.

Getting up from the ground shakily, Luna watched me, following me from behind, as I headed back to the bedroom as she instructed.

The feeling of her eyes staring into my back was like needles pinning into flesh.

Who the fuck was this girl…?

Where was the Iwasaki-san from school…?

The one I was eating dinner with happily just moments ago…?

Entering the bedroom in a daze, I heard the door closing shut behind me, locking.

I turned around to see Luna standing in front of the door, blushing.

“Let’s go to bed now…” She said.

“Um…” I stared at her for a moment, thinking about my options.

For now, let’s just do as she says…

I swallowed and nodded, then headed over to the bed, slumping down into it.

The lights were still on, but Luna didn’t turn them off yet.

She walked over to the bedside table, taking something out from behind her hip.

Then, there was a loud clattering noise as she dropped something heavy dropped down onto the bedside table, causing me to jump.

I flicked my eyes at the thing that she took out, then felt my heart fall.

…

A knife.

And no ordinary knife too.

It was something that was a mixture between a switchblade and a folding knife, the blade being sheathed in the handle.

I could see from the design that the blade came out from the side of the handle, but I couldn’t tell how it opened since there didn’t seem to be any buttons. It was definitely not manual though, since I couldn’t see a way to physically pull the blade out.

Seeing that pretty much confirmed my suspicion that Luna was batshit insane.

There were no longer any doubts remaining.

Luna followed my eyes that were staring fixedly at the knife.

“Oh, are you interested in that?” She asked, then picked up the knife so that I could get a closer look.

“N-no,” I tried to move away from the knife, but she held it closer to my face.

The handle was quite large, its length was just longer than a human neck, indicating the size of the blade inside. It was pitch-black, but against the light and being this close to it, I could make out faint patches along the handle.

A rusty smell came to my nose, and I turned my head sharply, raising my hands up.

“L-Luna, it’s fine. I don’t need to see it.”

“Okay,”

Luna took the knife away from my face, much to my relief, placing it back down on the bedside table with a dull thud that made my heart jump again. It was definitely pretty heavy, judging from the sound.

She walked over to the door, then flicked the light switch off, encompassing the room in darkness.

I shifted closer to the wall next to the bed, and felt her body falling down next to me, then her hands reached out grabbing onto me.

She pulled me down so that we were both laying on the bed, our heads facing each other.

I could make out the outlines of her pretty face, her pale-violet eyes almost seeming to glow in the darkness as they stared into my eyes.

“I need the knife to protect myself…” She breathed.

“P-protect yourself…?”

“And I’ll also protect you, Ryo…” She paused, her eyes staring at me unblinkingly. “There’s a game going on in Tokyo…”

A game?

What the fuck was she on about?

Her voice lowered, coming out in a hushed whisper.

“…A. Bloody. Killing. Game.”