"What are you on about...?"

I stared at Luna's pale-violet eyes in the darkness, my throat dry from all the sweating earlier. Luna's face was completely serious, nothing that said she was playing around.

"I told you. There's a game going on in Tokyo at the moment." Luna said. Her face was still in front of mine. "If you want to live, you have to stay with me."

"..."

I let a moment of silence passed as I tried to figure out her words.

"Luna... I... I don't understand..."

She smiled at me.

"Don't worry, Ryo. You'll figure it out eventually. For now, just listen to everything I say."

"..."

"Goodnight, Ryo."

She closed her eyes, her hands still on my shoulders from grabbing me earlier.

...

The hell...?

I didn't know what to think about the situation.

All I knew was that Luna was crazy, and that I needed to get out and call the police.

This was insane.

She had delusions about some 'game' going on in Tokyo, and she also just killed someone without a second of hesitation after they tried to punch me. I could already tell that none of this was going to hold up in court as self-defence.

Maybe if I tell the police now, I wouldn't 't be involved...

I mean... I didn't do anything wrong, did I...?

...

Fuck!

I don't want to go to jail!

But, I think going to the police was the best decision here.

This girl was keeping me a prisoner inside my own apartment! Even if I didn't report the murder, there has to be some serious jail time for what she was doing, wasn't there?

I gritted my teeth, trying to conjure up a plan.

My eyes were slowly getting accustomed to the darkness. I could see Luna breathing gently in front of me, her eyes closed, and a tranquil expression on her face. She looked so pretty, but I knew that it was all just a lie.

This girl was utterly and completely nuts.

Way beyond saving by any psychologist.

I will just wait for a while more, until I'm certain she's asleep... then I'll make my leave...

~x~

Three hours and fifteen minutes passed—of keeping my eyes closed and emulating the breathing of a sleeping person—and I decided that it was probably a good time to bail.

Cracking my eyes open by the tiniest bit, I peered outside to see Luna’s relaxed face, dark eyelashes pointing downwards, and a serene expression. She looked so pretty that I briefly wondered whether I had imagined all of the past happenings.

Then, I glanced past her head, at the bedside table to see a dark, large object, sitting there, reminding me that I wasn’t the crazy one.

It was her knife.

Swallowing, I watched Luna for a while more before lifting my body gently up from the bed.

“Don’t.”

Luna’s eyes fluttered wide open, staring at me as though she had never been asleep at all.

My heart jumped, and an instinctive urge to punch her in the face and run rises in my stomach. I pushed it down with the memory of the guy dying at the park.

“Oh, you’re awake, Luna?” I tried to act normal, doing my best to give an offhanded smile. “I was just thinking about going to the toilet.”

“Really?” Luna asked. “I’ll go with you.”

“G-go with me…?” I almost choked on her words. “You don’t mean…”

Luna frowned at me. “Why not?”

I shook my head, then sank back into the bed. “Don’t worry… Let’s just sleep…”

“Okay…”

‘Fucking crazy bitch.’ I thought in my head. ‘I’ll just wait until an opportunity to escape arises tomorrow…’

~x~

The morning light hit my eyes, and I twitched, feeling restless and groggy. Apparently, sleeping with a deranged psychopath holding onto your shoulders was harder than I thought.

Forgetting about last night’s event momentarily, I opened my eyes and jumped back when I saw that Luna was still in my bed, her face a few inches away from mine.

“Ryo…?” Luna’s eyes opened, glancing at me. “Oh… good morning…”

Good morning…?

I couldn’t keep my jaw shut.

She was still here.

And so was the knife at the table.

“Did you have a good sleep?” She asked, getting up nonchalantly from the bed, rubbing one eye.

“Yeah…” I closed my jaw, and smiled. “Great… it was great, Luna…”

Luna smiled back at me. “That’s good!”

She turned away, and my smile dropped, staring at her with a cautious look.

How the hell was I going to get away from her?

I need to get to a phone and call the police…

“I’ll make you some breakfast, Ryo!”

Luna got up from the bed energetically, then took off outside the bedroom.

“It’s…” I started, but she was already gone. “Okay…” I ended in a quieter tone.

Now that I knew she was crazy, there wasn’t a chance I was going to eat her food.

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I needed to get the hell out, and quick.

I pulled myself out of the bed, then walked quietly towards the door, peeking outside at the living room for Luna’s whereabouts.

She was at the kitchen, humming happily to herself, as she prepared breakfast.

There was quite a distance between her and the door.

Maybe if I ran, I could make it…

Something popped into my mind, and I glanced behind me at the bedside table.

Nothing.

The knife was gone.

She must had taken it with her…

…

I clenched my teeth.

Still… I had to get out of here… no matter what.

I took a slow step out of the living room, staring at Luna for a reaction.

She didn’t appear to have seen me walking out. She had her back turned towards me, using the sink.

…

Fuck it. Let’s do it.

I sprang myself forward, bolting for the living room door. I didn’t have my phone, keys or wallet, but there wasn’t any time to get them.

“R-Ryo…!!”

Luna spun around, catching me heading for the door.

By that time, I was already pulling at the apartment door, almost breaking the hinges as I threw it open.

“Wh-where are you going—”

Her voice disappeared from behind me as I jolted out of the apartment—free at last.

No time to celebrate but.

I was already running down the stairs of the apartment building, almost tripping over because of how hasty I was. There were no elevators in this building since it was relatively small, being about three stories tall.

I could hear Luna’s voice calling at me from behind.

Shit!

She was going to follow after me!

Reaching the ground floor and already covered in sweat, I ran out of the building and into the streets, glancing both ways, before quickly bounding one way as my memory recalled the direction of the police station. I never had to go to a police station so the memory was vague, but I was sure I was heading the right way.

“Ryo—!!”

Luna’s voice was screaming in the distance, but I wasn’t stopping.

The police station wasn’t too far. If I kept running at this pace, then I should reach it in about ten minutes…

Strangers on the street threw wild glances at me, but I paid them no heed.

Just a guy in sleepwear, running for his life in the streets, with a horrified expression. Nothing much to see here.

Somehow, I managed to reach the police station without Luna catching up to me. Entering the station was one of the best feelings of my life.

I had made it…

Finally…

The policewoman at the desk glanced up at me, then her eyes widened with surprise as I threw my hands down at the desk, breathing heavily.

“I… I would like to report a murder…” I gasped.

“A-a murder?” She repeated.

“Yes, yes…” I leaned against the desk, keeping my shaky legs from falling. “I-I’m being chased… I… I was imprisoned by some lunatic, and—”

“Okay, just hold on for a second.” She said, then got up from her chair with a serious expression, sensing my urgency. “I’ll get someone to speak to you. Please, have a seat.” She pointed at the chairs lined up in front of the reception desk.

“Th-thank you…” I flashed a weak smile at her, then stumbled over to the chair, almost fainting into the chair.

Fucking finally…

Now this nightmare could end…

Ah…

I slouched on the chair, breathing out and feeling light-headed. I wasn’t really that unathletic. It was just fucking tiring to run for ten minutes non-stop at the fastest pace I had ever ran.

There was no one else in the police station besides me, and I glanced up at the clock above the reception to look at the time.

8AM.

Still pretty early in the morning. Especially for me.

It was also a Sunday, so that explained why there wasn’t many people out on the streets.

I doubted that Luna would follow me into a police station.

The door next to the reception desk swung open, and two policemen whom I could only assume to be detectives stood there, glancing at me. They weren’t dressed in the typical police attire of a blue uniform, and were instead, dressed in collared shirts and tie.

“You’re the one that said you wanted to report a murder?” One asked.

“Yeah.”

“Come in.” He said, and started walking back inside from where he came from. The other stood at the door, holding it open for me.

I got up from the chair quickly, walking in and muttering a thank you to the detective that waited. He stared at me with a solemn expression, saying nothing back in return.

I didn’t really care. I was just so relieved to have gotten away from Luna and actually be at a police station.

Following after the detective, I glanced around at the other rooms that were visible through transparent windows.

There were a handful of police at this station. Not that many due to the size of the station. The area that was governed by this station wasn’t really that big.

The detective took me into a small, plain room with only one desk. It looked like an interrogating room.

“Have a seat.” He said, walking up to one side of the table, and the door closed behind me. The other detective was standing in front of the door. The one that haven’t spoken a word so far. He had brown hair and black eyes, and appeared to be in his 40s.

The detective that talked appeared to be in the same age, though there were more haggard lines on his face, probably from the stressful nature of the work. He had black, greying hair with black eyes.

There wasn’t really much to differentiate the two of them, besides the fact that the one that talked look more rugged.

“My name’s Ikko Watanabe and this is my partner, Hisaya Noguchi.”

The detective at the table pointed to the one at the door.

“I’m Ryo Otsuka…” I said, seating at the chair in front of Ikko and he smiled wearily at me.

Noguchi-san sat down next to Watanabe-san, then coughed. “So… Otsuka-san… Tell us what happened, from the very beginning.” He placed down a notebook onto the table, that I didn’t notice that he had been holding, then took out a pen from the front pocket of his shirt.

Where to even start?

“Well…” I said. “First of all…”

~x~

“I see…”

Watanabe-san nodded, a serious expression on his face, but I couldn’t fathom any other emotion. Noguchi-san had been scribbling down on his notebook the entire time.

“You really need to catch her.” I said. “She’s completely psycho! She thinks that there is this… ‘game’ going on, and—”

“It’s okay, Otsuka-san. You’ve already told us that part.” Watanabe-san smiled, raising his hand up. “You don’t have to worry. We’ll take the appropriate measures.”

“T-thank god…” I sighed.

“We’ll just be right back.” Watanabe-san said, then got up from the desk. Noguchi-san got up with him. “Thanks for everything so far.”

“No problem.” I smiled back.

I had faith that these two detectives would put an end to Luna’s madness. I just wanted to go back to my apartment and return to my normal life. I probably wasn’t going to do anything related to girls for a while after this…

The two detectives walked out of the room, and the door closed, leaving me alone.

I breathed another sigh of relief, relaxing in the chair.

…

I wonder what will happen to Luna…

Dammit! Why was I still thinking about her?!

She was a psycho, a complete nutcase!

I was only doing the right thing…

I shouldn’t have to feel guilty about this…

I waited for a while more, and after what felt like an eternity, the door opened.

I glanced up, expecting to see the detective, but instead saw a girl with dandelion hair and dull brown eyes. She looked my age, 16, and was dressed in a long black coat, and heels that strapped up to the bottom of her knees.

Puzzled by her appearance, I stared at her as she chewed on gum in her mouth, then flicked a disinterested glance at me.

“You’re the person that said you know Luna?” She asked.

“Yes, that’s me, but who are y—”

The girl pulled out something from her coat and stabbed it down on the table, creating a loud thud, and I jumped back.

I glanced down at the object on the table.

It was a knife.

The blade was wedged into the wooden surface, standing incredibly still.

The girl pushed her hair back casually. She had released her grip of the knife after throwing it down.

“So, Ryo Otsuka…” She said. “Tell me… where is Luna?”

What the fuck was going on?!

I glanced between the knife and the girl in utter confusion and shock. A feeling of dread rising in my stomach.

Did I not go to a police station?

Why was there another maniac in front of me?!

“Basically, Luna was right. You should had stayed with her.” She was staring down at the expression on my face, probably reading what I was thinking from that. “No police is going to help you about this situation.”

I glanced up at her. “What’s going on…?”

“Just a game…” She looked away from me and gazed down at her nails, stretching her fingers to inspect them. “Basically, she’s not human and neither am I. Well, not in the traditional sense anyways. We’re Ashens.”

“Ashens?”

“Super engineered humans.” She sighed. “It’s a military project. The game is to kill all the other Ashens.”

I took a moment to process what she was saying.

“T-that’s insane... You expect me to believe that…?”

“I don’t care what you think, quite frankly.”

“Why am I even involved in this? I’m just a high school kid!”

“Shut up.”

She reached a hand to the table, then yanked the knife out, ripping it from the wooden surface.

I pulled back instinctively, but she grabbed me by the front of my collar and pulled me up from my chair and towards her.

Cold steel pressed against my cheeks, and I glanced down to see the blunt side of the knife rubbing against me. The girl was toying with the knife playfully at my face, a creepy smile tugging at her lips.

“Tell me where Luna is.”

“I-I don’t fucking know!!”

“Really?”

“Yes! I mean it! I don’t have a clue! She was chasing after me before when I was coming to the police station but I don’t know where she went after!”

“Hm…”

“L-let me go! Please!”

I was rigidly still in her grasp, afraid that she would accidentally stab the tip of the knife inside my eyeball where it was pointing. The blade was still against my cheeks, but she stopped moving it around.

“Well…”

The girl started speaking again after a moment of silence, and her grip on my collar loosened. The feeling of the cold blade left my cheeks, and she pushed me away, causing me to stumble backwards.

“I guess I’ll just to have to use you to draw her out.”

She finished, then flashed another creepy smile.

“Wh-what the fuck…?” I stared at her, wondering when I was going to wake up back in my bed. “Just let me go… I don’t have anything to do with thi—”

She grabbed my wrist, then yanked me towards her with a strength that was impossible for a girl her size. I lost my breath for a second, then found myself walking quickly after her to keep my arm from being pulled apart.

“We’re going to go find Luna.” She said, her head turned away from me.