"W-what?" I stuttered.

Luna looked at me and tilted her head slightly to the left.

"Akane's a lesbian." Luna repeated.

"And… she likes you?" I left my mouth hanging open.

"Yes."

I mused over this new found knowledge silently seeing as Luna felt no need to say any more. I still couldn't quite believe it. I mean… Akane was popular with the boys and she had a pretty face, so why the hell would she give up on the opposite sex for Luna?

I glanced at Luna. She was cute for sure. Her violet eyes were of a dull hue, but drew attention to her face in an enigmatic way. There was something about her eyes that seemed out of this world. It contrasted her dark hair and pale skin. Moving my eyes down to her lips that seemed to be of the purest pink, my head went dizzy knowing that she actually kissed me.

I snapped back awake when I heard Akane opening the door. She placed a tray of tea on the kotatsu table and sat down on her knees. It could be my imagination but she was slightly leaning towards Luna's end.

"L-Luna." Akane stammered. Luna looked at her and Akane looked away blushing. I watched Akane reached into her bag and pulled out a small box wrapped in pink ribbons. "I-I made you chocolate for Valentines…"

Akane extended the box towards Luna and faced her head at the ground. I could see her cheeks reddening. "I couldn't find you yesterday and—"

"I don't want it." Luna interrupted.

Akane looked up with a painful expression on her face. "B-but—"

"I said I don't want it!" Luna yelled. She swiped the box off Akane's hands and I watched in disbelief as the box hit the ground spilling chocolate on the floor. There was a deafening silence that followed as I tried to make sense of what just happened. I couldn't believe it. Did Luna just fling away her best friend like a fly?

“I-I’m sorry, Luna…” Akane got up shakily to clean the mess, her face pale. “It was my fault…”

“I told you a lot of times not to give me stuff like that.” Luna seemed repulsed as though a bug had flown on her. “You know that I already have Ryo.”

“I-I know…” Akane flinched.

“Yet you pull this type of stunt right in front of him? Do you know how disrespectful you are being?”

“Hey, Luna…” Luna was going too far, but my mouth was dry and the words came out weak and soft.

“I-I’m sorry, Luna…” Akane repeated herself like a broken record. “I’m sorry…”

Luna glared at her emotionlessly. “Kneel.”

“Huh?” I raised an eyebrow, unable to contain myself.

I watched in shock as Akane fell to her knees in front of Luna. It was a miserable sight.

“Kneel and apologise to Ryo.” Luna said annoyed. Her face and tone was completely serious. “Don’t apologise to me.”

“Come on, Luna…” I spoke up now, clearing my voice. This was getting way out of hand. “This is ridiculous…”

Akane shifted herself over to face me, still in a kneeling position. She was about to bow her head down to the floor and I immediately rushed over to pick her up. This was a pathetic scene. I couldn’t stand it for a second longer.

“Luna!” I glanced back at her, incredulous. “Are you really going to watch your best friend do this crap?”

“She insulted you right in front of your face, Ryo.” Luna said bitterly. Her tone softened when talking to me. “She should apologise… I’m not going to sit here and do nothing while you get insulted…”

I couldn’t believe her. “Luna… are you serious?”

“I just want people to treat you right…” Luna shifted uncomfortably. “What’s wrong with that?...”

I shook my head. I couldn’t deal with her total lack of empathy. “This is not how you treat people…”

“I…” Luna went speechless, seeing the look on my face.

At that moment, Akane who was in front of me, shoved me off her angrily. “Don’t make Luna upset!” She breathed out. I stumbled backwards, losing my footing and fell to the ground lightly. She wasn’t strong, but I had tripped over my own feet.

Luna shot up from the kotatsu table in the blink of an eye and grabbed onto Akane’s neck, squeezing tightly. She lifted her off her feet by her throat and Akane went red-faced, choking and spluttering saliva from her mouth.

“Luna!” I screamed, struggling to get up quickly. “Let go of her!”

Her grip went loose at my words, and Akane dropped onto the floor, unconscious.

“Y-you…” I was in disbelief at what she had done.

“I was trying to protect you!...”

I walked to the door in awe. Luna made a move to grab my arm, her face desperate, but I pulled myself away. “Don’t!” I snapped. I didn’t want to look at her in the eye. “Just look after Akane…”

I left the house, feeling overwhelmed, but no idea where I was going. I wanted to get away from her. Get away from all this madness.

Luna was absolutely crazy. She had no feelings towards her friends and it seemed like she was intent on killing everyone that raised a finger at me. What the hell was wrong with her? She almost choked Akane to death for absolutely no reason at all.

I kept walking for a while, my thoughts in disarray. Eventually, I stopped to catch my breath. I was sweating and I felt the cold wind stinging my cheeks. I closed my eyes and my mind began spinning. Luna was obsessed over me. I didn't understand. Why did she like me so much? I had only confessed to her a few days ago—

What if she liked me before then? It was a likely explanation for the madness I had gotten myself into. Perhaps I had talked to her before my confession? That was impossible though. I had never been able to muster the courage to have an idle chat with Luna before. And she had only transferred to the school two years ago…

I waived the thought away. Whatever was the reason that she liked me didn’t really matter at this point. What mattered was whether I could still be around her. I took a quick scan of my surroundings. Now where the hell was I? How far had I even ran?

I was about to turn back when I felt something hard hit the side of my head. I fell to the ground painfully and looked up at the sky in a daze. My vision was fading quickly and I could feel the world spinning around me in a haze. The last thing I saw was a figure standing over me, a baseball bat in their hands.

I didn't know how long I was knocked out for but when I started regaining consciousness the first thing I realised was the overwhelming pain on the side of my head. I felt the world flashing a murky red as a wave of sickness fell over me. I felt like I wanted to vomit and I tried but I couldn't. I could hear voices around me but I couldn't make out what they were saying. Every word was coming out in a slur and I felt like I was in a dream. The air was thick with the scent of smoke.

Eventually I could feel my body again. I was sitting on a chair and my hands were behind my back. I tried to move them but I felt a tight resistance. Perhaps I was tied up. Blood was trickling down my forehead and I was sweating all over. My lips felt dry and I squinted my eyes slightly.

I was in a dark warehouse or something by the looks of it and the place was huge. I could see dark figures shuffling past me but I couldn't pick up any faces. Where the hell was I? My head was hurting and I couldn't think properly. I tried to recollect my thoughts. The last thing I remembered was… I was hit on the head!

I felt panic sweep over me but I tried to remain calm. Think! What was I doing before I was attacked? I was… I thought hard but the pain on my head drowned my thoughts out. I groaned. It was so painful. I could feel my head throbbing.

"Hey, he's awake!" A voice shouted. I heard footsteps striding towards me and I looked up at a figure standing over me. My eyes were gradually getting used to the dark and I could make out spiky hair but that was it. My head still felt fuzzy.

I watched the figure bent down and pick up a bucket besides him. He poured the contents over me and I snapped awake as I felt cold water splashing over my head soaking me in my clothes. I could feel pieces of ice stuck in between my clothing and I shivered.

"W-what the hell?" I chattered. I was freezing.

"Is he the one?" A figure at the side asked. They ignored me.

"Yeah, he's definitely the one." The figure standing in front of me answered.

"So, he killed Takeshi?"

I was alert now. What the hell were they talking about? I had never killed anything more than insects in my entire life. Were they on drugs or something? This had to be a mistake. A huge mistake.

"Y-you've got the wrong guy, I—" I was interrupted when something hard slammed me across the face flinging my head the opposite way. I fell onto the ground along with the chair and the figures hurriedly pulled me back up. I could taste blood in my mouth. The figure in front of me kneeled down so that we were face to face and I gasped.

"Remember me now?" Kaiji asked. He was wearing a cast on his arm and the images of the day at the park flashed back to me. Kaiji and his friends were planning to kidnap Luna at the park and she ended up killing one of them with a knife. I couldn't believe I was seeing him again.

"Where is she?" Kaiji asked solemnly. He was brandishing something in his hands and I could feel my face growing sore from where he had hit me.

"Who?" I mumbled under the pain.

Kaiji revealed a gun in his hand and before I could open my mouth, he pushed the muzzle against my forehead and cocked the gun.

"Where the fuck is she?" Kaiji bellowed. I felt the cold steel pushing hard against my forehead as his voice echoed off the walls in the warehouse. I looked up at Kaiji's face contorted in an intense hatred and I knew he was serious.

"W-wha— I don't know!" I screamed, closing my eyes. I was going to die for a crime I had never committed! Unless confessing to Luna was a crime in itself, I didn't find it very fair that I was going to die in such a stupid way. I was sweating heavily and I had held my breath without even knowing. Was he going to pull the trigger? I wonder if I would feel pain if he shot me through the skull. I felt the cold steel moving away from my forehead slowly.

"He doesn't know." Kaiji said and I heard whispers from the figures crowding around me. I let out my breath. I couldn't believe my luck. What had I gotten myself into?

My eyes were getting used to the darkness now and I could see thirty or so males surrounding me. They looked like young yakuzas, tattoos staining their bodies and sporting dyed hair. I glanced around me at the warehouse and saw what seemed like a drug lab. My heart was falling quickly. This was serious.

"What should we do then?" One of them asked. "Isn't he the one who killed Takeshi?"

"No, it was a girl. This is just her boyfriend." Kaiji answered. He walked away to a box lying on the ground and shuffled inside searching for something.

"So we should use him as a bait then?"

They were after Luna! I tried to pull my hands away from the chair but I couldn't. They had tied me up with steel chains. But I guess they wouldn't kill me until after they got Luna. I needed to think of something by then. They had taken everything in my pockets including my phone and wallet.

"No." Kaiji said. He leaned back up finding what he was looking for and headed towards me. "I'm going to fucking chop him up and show what's left to that girl."

I saw a long rusty knife in his hands and my heart dropped. He was planning to cut me up! I swung my body against the chair frantically. This couldn't be happening!

"W-wait! Stop! P-please!" I begged. The other guys just laughed and grabbed the chair still.

"Make sure he doesn't move an inch." Kaiji ordered as he approached me slowly. "I'm going to make a nice scene for that bitch to see when we find her."

"N-no!" I pleaded. I tried to throw the chair off balance but they were holding it down. I saw Kaiji raising the knife and I screamed. I didn't think about what to scream, I just screamed.

"LUUNAA!"

I heard a loud bang and light filled the place.

"W-what the fuck?" Kaiji shouted, covering his eyes. Everyone was looking over at the entrance where a figure stood alone. I squinted through my eyes. It… it was Luna.

I couldn’t believe it. What the hell was she doing here? How did she even find me?

"It's her!" Kaiji cried pointing at Luna. "S-she's the one that killed Takeshi!"

I heard the figures roaring as they charged towards Luna. There was about twenty males that had ran towards her empty handed. The other ten scrimmaged in boxes placed all over the place for weapons.

"R-run Luna!" I cried. There was no way she could possibly fight off twenty males at once. But Luna didn't run. Instead she pulled something out from behind her back, and a blade shot out of nowhere in her hand. The sharp noise made my heart jump. It was her switchblade.

Was she planning to fight all of them with just a knife?! I couldn't do anything but watch. How was she planning to fend them off? They were close enough to lunge towards her now and I watched as the first guy leaped towards Luna. Everything seemed to slow down from that point and as I watched the guy moving slowly in midair with his arms outstretched towards Luna, I cringed.

Luna took a swift step under the man and plunged her left hand into the man's stomach. I saw her grabbing the man's waist with her other hand and with one quick motion she threw the man several feet across her, his body slamming into several other drug addicts. I heard an agonizing crack as the man's skull came into contact with the concrete floor. He skidded several more feet before his body rolled to a complete stop. The man's stomach erupted spraying blood all over the ground.

The group that had charged towards Luna empty handed now froze in their spots having second thoughts about their impulsive rush. But Luna didn't stop. She threw herself in to the middle of the group and drew her blade across the throat of three frozen yakuzas. Then without waiting for a response she ducked past them and dived her knife into her next victim.

I watched in horror as she easily slipped past outstretching hands, cutting down and ending the lives of those she passed. There were cries of agony and pieces of human organs flying all over the place.

The ones who had not grabbed a weapon before now ran back picking up whatever they could find. Some of the yakuzas chose to run but no one came even close to the entrance. I winced as Luna split a man's skull open by crushing their head against the concrete wall. She ducked under a propelling baseball bat from behind and jumped several feet into the air before coming down and cleanly decapitating the one who had threw the bat.

Eventually it seemed the thirty yakuzas that had once occupied the warehouse were now lying in pieces all around the place. Everyone was either dead or on the ground bleeding to death. Luna stood silently in the middle of the mess covered in a thick layer of blood, the knife hanging loosely in her hand. Her eyes were glowing eerily, her pale violet eyes now vividly violet for some reason. The light flickered and shot sparks down from above, damaged by a metal pole which had rammed itself in to the ceiling during the course of the fight.

Luna didn't move and I sat frozen in a puddle of sweat. I could hear my heart thumping against my chest. The silence was deafening and it seemed it would etch on forever until a faint whimper pierced the deathly silence.

Luna's head flicked sharply in the direction of the disruption and I watched as she slowly walked towards the source of the noise. The light flickered on and off as her footsteps echoed in the silence, her vivid violet eyes burning during the short spasms of darkness.

I saw movement in the direction that Luna was heading and a man in his early twenties crawled out from under a mass of mutilated bodies. He had his right leg hacked off from the middle of the thigh and a look of absolute desperation fixed on his face. I could hear his panting growing uneven and rapid as Luna gradually approached him.

"P-please, don't kill me!" The man cried as the distance between Luna and him closed. I could see tears running down the corners of his eyes as he pushed himself frantically towards the exit.

Luna walked slowly towards the direction of the exit, blocking the man's path. She stood over him and looked down at the crawling figure emotionlessly. The man looked up at Luna's eyes in despair as the awareness of his inevitable doom sunk in. I could see more tears flowing down the man's face as the last trace of hope left his eyes.

Luna raised her leg and without hesitating stomped on the man's skull. My eyes widened as his face crushed into the cold concrete floor splattering into a heap of bloody mess. Luna looked down at the figure unblinkingly and an empty pit formed in my stomach. She was a monster.

Luna turned to me and I saw a cold unfamiliar look for a split second before colour jumped back to her face as she recognized me.

"Ryo!" She cried running towards me. She dropped her knife and threw her arms around me hugging me tightly. I heard her sobbing into my shoulder. "I was so scared when you ran away."

"L-Luna…" I stammered. I didn't know what to say when all of a sudden I noticed a figure hiding in the corner of the warehouse. He pointed something at Luna then I recognized Kaiji's face. Luna had her back on him with her arms wrapped around me and she didn't notice Kaiji. He had a gun in his hand.

"Luna!" I cried then there was a loud bang.