"Saiki... the truth is... I love Misaki...!"

I grabbed Misaki's hand next to me and raised it up in the air as though a proof of our love. Though I could only raise it halfway above my head due to how short Misaki was -- the tip of her head barely reaching up to my chest.

"..."

Saiki's scarlet eyes were still permanently anchored down onto Misaki with an unfathomable yet chilling gaze and a cold sweat rolled down my temple.

"C-come on, Misaki," I hissed next to me, "Say something to make this look believable...!"

Then I glanced sideways to see Misaki's entire body was shaking and chattering like a lawnmower, her face pale and deathly.

"U-u-um..." Unintelligible whispers wobbled out of Misaki's open mouth in the midst of her unsteady breathing.

I guess I had to be the one to do everything here.

"Listen Saiki, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you all this before..." I let out a forlorn sigh, placing a hand over my troubled face, "But... my heart has already been captured by Misaki a long time ago."

"..."

"And so, that is why we can't be together anymore, as much as it pains me to say this..." I continued what I had rehearsed, shaking my head wistfully, "It's nothing personal on you, Saiki, you're a great girl, but... when I saw Misaki again after all these years of having not seen her, those strong feelings I had for her came rushing back into me as though they had never disappeared... and that's when I knew I couldn't be with you anymore, Saiki... I'm sorry..."

Waiting a few seconds for dramatic effect, I peered through my fingers at Saiki surreptitiously and saw murder written in bold within her terrifying scarlet eyes.

...

I took a deep breath.

Now it was time for the crux of my seemingly asinine plan. Even fools don't go on suicide missions without some sort of golden fairytale to chase.

"Saiki," I said, my voice now turning serious, "You say that you love me all the time, but if you truly love someone you would wish for their happiness no matter what, isn't that right?"

"..."

"Being able to put down your own happiness so that the person you love can be happy, that's what love is." I said, then paused, "...Or was everything you said about loving me just a lie?"

Saiki winced at my words, anger dissolving on her face for a hurt look, "...T-that's not fair, Naosuke..."

"Well, love isn't always fair."

Saiki shifted on her feet uncomfortably, silent for a moment.

"...w-what about my happiness then...?" Saiki whispered quietly almost as though she was talking to herself.

"So you love yourself more than me then?" I replied, "Is that the true meaning of your love?"

"N-no, of course not--!"

"Then what is it?" I pushed on, not giving her a chance for a break, "Do you really love me or not, Saiki? Or are you honestly just a psychopath pretending to be in love all along?"

"...!"

The last part of what I had said must had hit a nerve because Saiki froze, her scarlet eyes staring down unmovingly at the ground.

"Hey Naosuke..." Misaki said in a quiet concerned tone, having recuperated from her state of nervous shutdown some time ago during our conversation, "Why are you being so mean to Kawano-san...?"

I glanced down besides me at the blinking baby-faced girl with violet hair and cerulean eyes and cursed my luck.

I had planned that Misaki would take a lot longer to recover and that I would have enough time to say what I needed to say to Saiki without having to explain much if anything to Misaki. But now it seemed I would have to deal with both of them at the same time. A task that I didn't have much faith in accomplishing.

"Uh, Misaki honey," I laughed, grabbing her by the shoulders to stroll her away, "Why don't we go for a walk?--"

"--No!"

Misaki shrugged off my hands, glowering at me with fierce round eyes, "I can't do this anymore if you're going to use me to hurt someone like this, Naosuke! This isn't like you at all!"

"M-Misaki...!" I stammered, now alarmed as I raised my hands out in front of me in some sort of useless attempt to calm her down.

"The truth is!" Misaki spun to face Saiki, "Naosuke and me aren't really dating!"

"Nooooooooo!"

A hollow scream left my lips and I dropped down to my knees with a thud, clutching onto my head.

What... what have you done, Misaki...?!

With a shadow cast over Saiki's eyes from her lowered head, the end of Saiki's lips twitched up.

~x~

"Ah, so that's the case."

Saiki's voice came out hushed and eerily serene. Both Misaki and I froze in our spots, feeling the drastic shift in atmosphere from mere seconds ago.

Whilst before the balance of power was favoured heavily towards me and Saiki appeared like an ordinary girl in the face of my psychological attack, suddenly it was like the ordinary girl in front of us had been replaced by an evil unhinged entity, one that we were powerless to do anything to.

"W-what...?" Misaki squeaked, perhaps realising her terrible mistake.

"I knew you wouldn't cheat on me, Naosuke!" Saiki chirped, then bounded towards me, unable to hide the ecstatic smile tugging on her lips. She stepped in between Misaki and me, nudging Misaki to the side carelessly as though her presence no longer existed. "After all, I'm so much more prettier than that girl is!"

"U, um, Kawano-san, I'm still here, you know... could you please not talk about me like I'm not--" Misaki started in a shattered tone.

"Now then, let's go!" Saiki wrapped her arm around mine, dragging me up from my knees and away from the school gates.

"S-Saiki...!" I said, trying to get out of her grasp to no avail, "Dammit! Listen to what I have to say first...!"

But she wasn't listening. Her scarlet eyes were disillusioned as she stared ahead at our path, leading us to god knows where.

"H, hey, where are you taking, Naosuke?!"

Misaki stepped in front of us, blocking our path with her arms spread out, a determined pout on her face.

We stopped and Saiki glanced down at Misaki with a look of non-recognition for a moment before her face darkened.

"You really want to get in the way of Naosuke and me that much, huh?" Saiki said.

"W-well, I'm obviously not going to let you just kidnap him." Misaki replied.

"Misaki," I said, "What the heck are you doing? Just leg it! I can already see your legs shaking!"

"S-shut up!" Misaki blushed at me, "How can I just run and leave you like this..."

'Weren't you about to do just that when we were waiting at the gates...?' I thought but decided to keep it in my head.

"I don't really know what's going on here," Misaki said, turning her eyes back to Saiki, "But to me, it looks like Naosuke doesn't want to go wherever you're taking him."

"And what's Naosuke to you?" Saiki asked.

"H-huh? What the heck does that have to do with anything?!" Misaki stuttered.

"Depending on your answer, you might live or die." Saiki said with a straight face.

"Hah... you think I'm scared of empty threats like that..." Misaki said weakly.

"Alright, this is too much," I said, "Listen to me, Saiki, Misaki's a childhood friend of mine. If you hurt her, I will seriously hate you."

"..."

"Anyways, I'll go with you, Saiki." I said, "Just leave Misaki alone, alright."

"B-but Naosuke...!" Misaki said to me.

"It's fine," I shook my head, "I'll be okay with Saiki. I'll see you at school tomorrow, Misaki."

Then I pulled Saiki along with me as we left the school gates, leaving Misaki behind. I continued walking with Saiki towards the train station quietly for a moment.

"Naosuke..." Saiki said, gazing down at the pavement as we walked.

"Sup?"

"Who was that girl?"

"Didn't I explained it already? She's a childhood friend of mine."

Saiki paused, "...but what is she to you...?"

"A childhood friend." I repeated, "And an idiot."

"..."

I sighed to myself. What a complete failure of a plan today. My yandere survival strategy so far has just been one abysmal mess after another. Am I seriously stuck with Saiki for the rest of my life?

Then again, how am I still alive after all these stunts?

"Saiki," I said, "How come you never say anything after all those stupid things I've done to you?"

"What do you mean, Naosuke?"

"Well... like today, you obviously know that it was my idea to pretend that Misaki was my girlfriend, right...?"

"..."

"I mean, clearly you're not dumb, Saiki..."

Saiki stopped and I stopped walking too. Then she faced me with a sad look on her face.

"I know that." She said.

"Then why don't you get mad at me?" I asked.

"...Because..." She leaned in and wrapped her arms around me, placing her head on my chest. "I don't want you to leave me..."

"..."

"I don't care what you do to me, Naosuke." Saiki said, "I don't care if you treat me badly. I don't care if you purposely try to make me angry. Even if you do something wrong, I can always turn a blind eye and forgive you."

Then she pulled away, looking into my eyes with a bittersweet smile, "All I ask is that you let me be with you."

"Saiki..." I said, taken aback, "Is that really a relationship...?"

"Why not?" Saiki asked, "Everyone has all kinds of relationships out there."

"That's true but..."

"Ah, we're going to miss the train!" Saiki exclaimed, glancing at the time on her phone. "We gotta go now!"

"What? Where are we even going anyways?"

She laughed, grabbing my arm as she led us ahead, "Just come and you'll find out!"

"Fine..."

Then we sprinted for the train station together.

~x~

A luxurious apartment with a modern design and completely clean from the entrance to the furthest corners of what my eyes could see. It was like stepping inside a showroom for real estate buyers.

"Wow, Saiki..." I mouthed, staring around me in awe as Saiki led me inside her apartment, "You live in a place like this all alone?"

"Why?" Saiki asked, "You live in an apartment by yourself too, right Naosuke?"

"Yeah, no, this is completely different!" I said, "My place is nothing like this!"

I sauntered over to the TV, noting that it was even bigger than the one that Saiki had bought for Sayuri in her hospital room. No wonder she had been able to buy all those stuff for Sayuri.

"Hey Saiki, about those things you bought for Sayuri, um, I forgot to mention it, but we really should give those back to you. There's no way we can pay you back." I said.

"What? No, you don't have to," Saiki laughed from the kitchen where it looks like she was making tea, "Please keep them for Sayuri! I wouldn't have any use for any of those things."

"What, no way, we can't do that..."

"It's fine, Naosuke," Saiki said, "Uhm, also, you can sit on the sofa, I'm just making you some tea..."

I had been standing the whole time, too afraid to touch anything and break it without knowing how much they costed.

"Sure..." I said, hesitantly sitting down on the sofa in front of the TV.

Damn, this living room alone was probably bigger than my entire apartment.

Waiting a few minutes quietly by myself, Saiki eventually strolled over with a tray, placing down on the table in front of the sofa a teapot and two cups of what appeared to be green tea.

"You like green tea, right?" Saiki smiled daintily at me before going back to the kitchen to place the empty tray away.

"Yeah..." I said, picking up the cup of green tea.

She must had remembered that I ordered green tea at that cafe on our first date.

I stared at the surface of the steaming green liquid, feeling wary of taking the first sip.

"So," I called out to Saiki, "Why did you invite me to your place?"

She walked over from the kitchen before sitting herself down next to me on the sofa. Then she picked up her cup in the traditional etiquette with both hands, taking a small sip.

"No reason," Saiki replied, "I just wanted a place where we could talk, Naosuke."

"Uh-huh," I said, taking a sip from my own cup after seeing her drink first. You can never be too careful with a yandere.

"Damn," I said surprised after taking a sip, "This is some good tea!"

"Really?" Saiki smiled at my reaction, "It's gyokuro. I brewed it myself."

"It's probably the best green tea I've ever drank," I said, taking another sip, "I didn't even know green tea could taste this good."

"You're exaggerating," Saiki laughed with a light shade of pink.

"Uhm, anyways, listen Naosuke," Saiki said, "the searon i lcalde uou eehr si..."

Huh.

I blinked, watching Saiki's mouth move but the words weren't making any sense to my ears.

Then suddenly, my vision began to fade.