When Yuudai comes to, he looks around. The lights are out save for the emergency lights flooding the room in a red tint, but he can see just fine. He looks to his right, finding the cooking club tied up in the corner of the Gym. Looking to his left he can see his own clubmates tied up on the bleachers. He knows it’s futile, but he struggles against his own restraints anyway.
“Oh, are you awake, my sweet YuuYuu?” Miyu coos as she moves to his side. “It’s been a while, I thought maybe I made the gas too strong~!” She shrugs, then continues. “At least it gave me enough time to barricade the doors too. Those lousy police my dad brought with him keep banging on the door, but they’ll never get through~!”
“M-M-Miyu? What did you do?” Yuudai yells as loud as he can muster, still dazed from the gas.
“Oh, not much YuuYuu! I just figured this cooking crap would be the perfect time to enact my revenge on that disgusting fucking skank bitch from earlier.” She turns her head to spit to the side when she notices the other club members starting to wake up. “Oh, it looks like everyone else is coming around, too. Be right back, don’t move a muscle~!” Miyu giggles as she walks back to John’s corpse and pulls out the knife before moving in front of the Paranormies.
Cerys is the first to open her eyes. “What the hell happened?”
Yuuri follows, yawning before asking, “Did we win…?” She tries moving, the rope preventing her. “H-hey? Who tied me up? Who put their filthy paws on me, nya?!?”
Mayumi looks around as she rouses, quickly turning to see Nutmeg’s body in a pool of blood. “What the fuck did you do to my friend, you yandere bitch?” She yells as loud as she can while struggling against her bindings.
Miyu looks her straight in the eyes and smiles ear to ear. “I killed him, duh.” She pulls out a blindfold and applies it to Mayumi’s face. “Don’t worry though, you’re next. And lucky you, my cute face will be the last thing you ever see!” She leans close to Mayumi breathing heavily. “Although, I suppose you do have a right to know why I’m going to jump rope with your guts.” She whispers in her ear. “Do you want it from me, or YuuYuu?”
Mayumi thrashes even more violently. “Why don’t we skip the villain monologue and get to the part where I fucking choke you out?!”
“Rude!” Miyu backhands Mayumi, venom in her voice. “YuuYuu, tell them about my charming quest to earn your love. Nothing I’ve done is wrong, but it seems this worthless hobag just can’t understand true love!” The tone of her voice unsettles Kirika, who wiggles away as much as she can, hiding her face behind Yuuri.
Yuuri leans towards Cerys who’s nearby and whispers into her ear, “Hey, Cerys. you can teleport out of your binds, right?”
“I could, but I don’t know if I could take this looney out before she slices up one of the others.” Cerys looks toward the corpse in the room. “Let’s not tempt fate just yet.”
Yuudai yells out from his table prison, “People thought you were weird, Miyu. People warned me about you.. Said you were weird, quiet in a dangerous way. I ignored that, tried to get to know you, but ever since then, it’s been a mistake I wish I never made.” He pauses for a moment, then continues “The moment you s-s-saw me with another girl you got like this! You became a lunatic! You sent so many girls to the hospital just because they tried to get close to me. Because of me…” He feels a hot tear roll down the side of his face.
“Oh YuuYuu, you’re so charmingly dense,” Miyu coos. “You clearly didn’t get the hint when I sent people to the hospital, so I’ll just start sending them to the morgue instead. Wave bye-bye to your friends~”
Yuuri starts struggling even more “N-Nyahh! Let me loose! The kitty wants to play!”
Akina, who’s been sitting back cooly, trying to analyze the situation, quips, “Looks like the druggie won’t die to an overdose. How unexpected.” She sighs,“I knew this cooking stuff would be stupid.”
Miyu walks back to Yuudai. “See, they don’t even care that you’re suffering, Yuudai. They only care about themselves. Buncha jerks, if you ask me.”
Yuudai yells out loud “Let them go! The’re my friends, so please don’t hurt them!”
Miyu is struck by this statement. “Even though they don’t care about you like I do? You reject ME, reject MY LOVE, for THEM?” She begins to sob. “Why? WHY?” She stabs the knife into the table right next to Yuudai’s neck. “They’re in the way, they have to DIE.”
Yuudai shudders, but tries to regain his composure “Remember… Remember Valentines Day. What did you get me? You…” His voice gives out, leaving his fear bare. “You gave me something to knock me out and… and v-violated me!! You tied me down and did all kinds of horrible things to me!”
“Horrible? HORRIBLE? I WAS DESPERATE TO SHOW YOU MY LOVE! TO KEEP YOU BY MY SIDE!” Her tears flow even harder. “You were the only person who talked to me, who tried to be friends with me!”
Yuudai’s voice booms suddenly “HOW THE HELL WOULD THAT MAKE ME LOVE YOU? It only scared me away! You manipulated others to get away with all of this! You threatened to kill others for me! The only way I had to get away from you was to transfer schools! I had to leave my family behind and move to Ibaraki!” He pauses for a breath, then quiets down a bit more “I thought now I didn't have to worry about anyone being harmed anymore because of you. All I did was put new people in danger.” His own tears flow harder.
Miyu somewhat quietly says “I was hurt, Yuudai. I was hurt and scared and alone. I tracked you down and thought maybe this time, things would be different.” She then grabs the knife from the table and looks back towards her captives. “But instead I find another of your concubines rubbing up against you! She makes me sick!”
Yuudai screams out “YOU make me sick, Miyu! Threatening to KILL people if they even touch me? What kind of twisted person does that?”
Miyu claps her hands to her ears “SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! I'm going to wipe that filthy slut from this planet before she sullies you any further, and then mop up the rest of these bad influences.” She starts slashing the knife in the air for emphasis. “And I'll keep killing, and maiming, and brutalizing all those liars and whores that try to dirty your beautiful soul. And once they’re all gone, you’ll finally accept me as your wife. We can be clean and pure and perfect...” She looks back over her shoulder at him “...Forever.”
Miyu marches directly to Mayumi, rubbing the flat of the knife on Mayumi’s cheek. “Don’t worry, as much as I want you to suffer, I have a lot of trash to take out so I’ll make it quick. You better be thankful, whore~!”
Mayumi whimpers at the touch of cold steel. Everyone starts screaming at Miyu, trying to stop her.
Katsuki begins looking around frantically. She mutters to herself “There’s gotta be something I can do…” when she spots Nutmeg’s corpse. “I don’t want any of us to end up like this! What can I-” She turns back and stops talking as she sees Miyu rear back to strike the fatal blow, then turns back “NO NO NO!” She shuts her eyes, waiting in horror for the moment to be over.
The only scream she hears, however, is Miyu’s. She opens her eyes to see a sharp stream of blood sticking through Miyu’s hand, though the stream quickly splats to the ground. The knife clatters to the ground and scatters away from her as Miyu grabs her hand “Wh-What the hell is this? WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?”
She screams in anger and pain as Katsuki stares in shock. “Did… Did I do that? Did… I did!” She smiles, but then frowns “Still, we’re not out of danger yet… how the heck do we get out of these ropes?”
Yuuri perks up and turns to Kirika who’s still behind her. “Kirika! I have an idea! Can you summon something like you did at the beach?”
Kirika snaps out of her shock, looking up at her precious senpai. “I-I don’t know.. but, but maybe! I’ll try!” She then closes her eyes and beings to attempt to summon some kind of help.”
Miyu shakes out her own shock, then races over to get her knife. “Fuck, I should have killed you all sooner! But you’re still trapped here, and you can’t do shit! I’ll just gouge your eyes out so you can’t use ANY of your powers! Then I’ll get to enjoy killing you all nice and slow~” She laughs as she picks the knife up.
Kirika tries to talk through her options. “Someone, anyone, please come to my aid, save us! We need help… help…. yes, help! What’s the best for help? No… no… yes! A butler! Mr. Butler, please come rescue us!”
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Miyu races back towards the bleachers. “Now you’re all fucking dead! There’s no way out even with your luck-” Her words are stopped as something grabs her arm, twisting it so that the knife is dropped again. Miyu looks up at the person… no, the creature holding her.
She sees a tall, imposing figure. A human figure, save for the bat wings and giant ears. She can’t see his face clearly, but the outline looks vaguely strange, especially because of the glowing red sigil on its forehead. “W-what the hell? Where did you come from?” She begins to struggle against his firm grip “Let me go! I must kill these harlots so I can show YuuYuu true love!” The figure simply turns his head towards her, not saying anything.
She panics, twisting her head around, just enough to see Yuudai rising from his table. “H-How did you break free? Was your love for me so -” She can't finish his sentence as Yuudai cuts her off.
"You don't know what love is!" Yuudai moves in front of her face. "Love isn't harming someone until they fall for you. You're sick."
“No! NO! I know you love me as much as I love you!” She yells as she jerks her arm one more time, finally freeing her from the grip of the strange man, who seems to dissipate as she pulls away from him. The force she used spins her around just enough to see Cerys freeing Mayumi, the last one still tied up.
“How… How did you… How dare you?!” She stares at the group of freed Paranormies starting to bear down on her. Realization dawns on her face. She turns her head to Yuudai with a sickly sweet smile. “You set this up, didn’t you? You wanted an audience so we could die in each others’ arms, didn’t you? I love you so much I can’t stand it; let’s cross to the other world together, YuuYuu!” She launches herself at him full force, easily stopped by Yuudai grabbing her into a headlock.
“Let me go! Let me go!” Miyu struggles against Yuudai’s grip, but it’s much too tight.
“Even now, I don’t hate you. The cops will be taking you away soon, and I hope you get the help you need.” Yuudai tightens his grip, blocking Miyu’s airway and causing her to begin to lose consciousness.
As her struggles begin to cease, she mutters one last phrase. “I… will always… love you… Yuu… y….uuuu….” Her body goes limp in Yuudai’s arms.
“Hey, Yuuri. Would you mind letting the police in? We have her subdued now, and they can handle the rest far better than we can.” Yuudai says as he gently sets the now-unconscious Miyu on the ground.
“Is she still alive? You didn’t choke her to death, right?” Yuuri asks.
“Of course not, Even someone like this can be redeemed. I don’t want to take that chance away from her.” Yuudai replies.
As Yuuri walks to the door to unlock it, she turns her head to him one more time. “You did the right thing, then.” She opens the door, then gets out of the way as the policemen rush in. They run to the center of the room where Yuudai is still standing over Miyu, staring her down.
As they take care of Miyu, Mayumi sits next to Nutmeg John’s cooling corpse, hugging her knees to her chest. She stares at nothing.
A while later, we find everyone outside, being attended to by medics and interviewed by policemen. One wearing a more lavish uniform approaches Yuudai. “Mr. Akiyama? I’m going to need a first hand account. From my understanding, you were the target here.”
“Sure, I can tell you -” Yuudai turns as he answers, once he sees the policeman’s face he stops. “Wait… you look like… You’re the Chief, aren’t you? Miyu’s father.”
The policeman frowns but nods. “Yes, I’m Miyu’s father. I’m sorry she gave you so much trouble. Unfortunately, she committed so many crimes that she’ll have to do some jail time… most of all for the murder of that American chef.” He hangs his head low. “Usually the court would put her away for life, but… But I can’t let them do that to my little girl. I”m going to negotiate with the courts to at least get her put in an institution where she can get the help she needs.”
Yuudai looks at him for a moment, then smiles. “I’m glad to hear that. I don’t know what happened to her to make her this way, but I think she isn’t a bad person, at her core.”
The Chief looks up at Yuudai with tears in his eyes, and puts a hand on Yuudai’s shoulder. “You’re a hell of a man, Mr. Akiyama. Anyone else would condemn her to the center of the earth, but…” He trails off, unable to finish his sentence due to choking up. Yuudai tries to comfort him, patting him on the back and helping him regain his composure after only a few minutes.
“I do have one… one last question though, as a policeman.” He coughs, trying to put his work face back on. “How did you all escape? All I was told is that one moment everyone was tied up, the next something freed everyone. What happened?”
Yuudai points to Cerys, who’s talking to Yuuri. “That girl there, Cerys Alcott. I don’t know how she did it, but at one point she came to where I was tied up and loosened my ropes. We only survived thanks to her.”
“Alcott, huh? She must be a foreigner. Nonetheless, I’ll have to thank her for getting everyone out alive. For… For preventing my girl from being even more of a murderer than she already is.” He sighs, then smiles at Yuudai. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you all made it out fine. But, it’s my job to find out the facts, so I’ll have to go interview this Alcott girl.” He shakes Yuudai’s hand then goes over to Cerys.
“Miss Alcott, may I have a moment of your time?” the Chief says. “I heard you were responsible for… for saving everyone here today. Could you tell me how you did that? How did you escape your own bindings?”
She crosses her legs and gives the chief a lackadaisical look. “Sure, I teleported to get myself free and then untied everyone.”
“T-Teleported? You mean like… like a science fiction movie?” The chief looks dumbfounded.
“Just think as like a ninja or something if that helps you out.” Cerys is clearly becoming annoyed with the line of questioning. “Is that all?”
The policeman senses Cerys’ contempt and backs off a bit. “Well, if that’s your testimony… I can’t say I believe you, but if you were able to avert a disaster here, I won’t pry too much deeper. Thank you for your time.” He tips his cap to Cerys, then walks to the middle of the grounds. “Okay everyone!” He yells to his subordinates. “Finish up, we’re ready to head out. We have everything we need to make a report, so we’re done here.” Before too long, the entire police presence has disappeared.
After the police leave, the Paranormal Club returns to the clubroom to grab their belongings and head to the dorm when Saito walks in. “Hey guys, what’s up? Doesn’t look like much!” Saito says cheerfully.
Yuudai gawks as Saito comes in. “Well, nothing much. We went to a school display, competed with the cooking club, got kidnapped and almost died. Not much, yeah.” He ends his sarcasm by walking up and grabbing Saito’s collar. “Where the hell have you been!?”
“Woah, chill Yuudude. I just slept in a bit.” Saito replies.
“It’s 6 in the afternoon, though!” Katsuki exclaims.
“I slept in a lot.” Saito shrugs as Yuudai lets him go.
“Well, we’re heading back to the dorms. May as well walk with us.” says Yuuri.
The Club then set out to return to the dorms. While Yuudai and Katsuki are explaining everything to Saito, Mayumi is walking along in silence, Yuuri walks alongside Kirika. “So, Kirika… what was that thing you summoned back there?”
Kirika shrugs “I don’t know myself… all I know is that it was cool, and I hope I can summon it again if we ever need help!” Kirika smiles at her senpai.
Yuuri returns the smile. “It was cool, wasn’t it? I guess that would make you cool too, for summoning it.” Yuuri giggles as Kirika’s eyes widen.
“Y-you think I’m cool, Yuuri-Senpai!?” Kirika asks excitedly.
“Well, you saved Mayumi’s life… and maybe all of ours. I think that’s enough to call you cool!” Yuuri ruffles Kirika’s hair, leading to Kirika happly side-hugging her senpai.
They reach the boys dorms, letting Saito and Yuudai peel off. As they do, though, Yuudai stops and turns to everyone. “H-hey, You all, before you leave, uh…” He trails off for a moment, before clearing his throat and looking at his clubmates with a serious expression.
“Well, I’ve definitely been on edge since coming to this school. Trying to get away from Miyu, finding out about what the principal did with the baseball games, and being away from my folks. Kind of felt like I was alone y’know? But seeing you guys in danger after going out of your way to help me out, it made me feel like for the first time in a while I had a real group of… of friends! S-So I’ll do my best as a member of the Paranormal Club!”
Yuudai steps forward, blinded by emotion, and grabs Cerys and Mayumi in a hug. They look at each other bewildered, an emotion that only grows as Yuuri, Kirika, and Katsuki join in the hug. Akina scoffs at the act. “Hey, are you wussies done? We have to get in the dorms soon.” This causes everyone to break off and say their goodbyes to the guys before heading off to the girls dorm.
Cerys and Mayumi linger at the back of the group, walking more or less alone. An awkward silence passes between them.
“Hey, as much as we’ve fought, I’m really sorry this has happened to you.” Cerys says, looking to Mayumi.
Mayumi keeps walking, saying nothing.
Cerys teleports in front of her, livid. “Don’t you ignore me, bi-” She sees tears run down Mayumi’s puffy, shellshocked face.
Cerys can’t help but frown at the state of Mayumi, and instead of saying anything more she simply moves to her side, grabbing her hand supportively. Mayumi squeezes Cerys’ hand back as they continue the walk back to the dorm
Meanwhile, Saito and Yuudai reach the front of the boys dorm, only to be met by Kairu.
“That was a close call you all had there, wasn’t it?” He asks cooly.
Yuudai gives a slight smile “If it wasn’t for my clubmates I might not be here right now.” He thinks for a moment. “I definitely wouldn’t be here right now.”
Kairu smiles “It’s great to have friends that close. With the skills they have, you all can get out of almost any jam, huh?”
“I sure hope so, but I also hope we don’t end up in situations like that too often.” Yuudai says with a weak chuckle.
“Well, with powers like you all have, you might not have that kind of luxury.” Kairu returns to a more serious demeanor. “You never know when someone might try to harness that power for their own ends.” He begins to walk away, the smile returning to his face. “Keep an eye on those girls and keep them safe. See ya around.” He walks away leaving the two boys confused.