So the one who put the letter in my locker isn't the same one who made my desk into an altar. This complicates things.
"Mochizuki, you mean to tell me that it wasn't you who painted a blood heart on my desk and carved it up with a knife?"
"Of course not, I would never do something so psychotic!"
"Alright. I'll take your word for it. I'm sorry, but my response to your confession will have to wait. I have more pressing matters."
"Do you need help figuring out who vandalized your desk?"
"I'd prefer if you stayed out of it. This person is probably dangerous, and I don't want you put in harm's way."
"You do care about me!"
I called Miwa to let her know the situation.
"I see. So Mochizuki Kiyomi wasn't the desk defiler?"
"No, but she did write the letter."
"Alright. Come back to the inn for now, and bring the girl with you. Ayumi will be there too, so make sure to fill us in on everything."
I had reservations about Miwa's idea. Noriko would lose her shit if she saw Mochizuki Kiyomi, let alone see her with me in her "home". I did as Miwa asked anyway.
"It's your lucky day, Kiyomi. You get to come to my place."
"I get to go to your house, and you called me by my first name? This is the best day ever!"
"Don't get too excited. My "house" is an inn that my parents entrusted to me, and we have other tenants that will be there. Some familiar faces even."
"That's fine as long as I'm with you. Let's go."
An unfamiliar laughter came about.
"You can't take him from me. I won't let you." The laughter continued. Simultaneously, the atmosphere lightened. In reality, I hadn't realized until it was too late that the voice released a form of anesthesia-esque gas into the air, through a vent most likely. Both Mochizuki and I were out cold. The only key difference was that I was conscious after I got knocked out. I was unconscious, yet conscious. All senses were in working order. Yet, I could not move nor speak.
The culprit came into the storage room in a mask that would barely protect themselves from the gas if they were in the room as well. Still, it was a girl I did not recognize.
When she started moving me and Mochizuki, I figured the culprit would act a bit carelessly because she thought we were both taking a nap, and I took advantage of that by pretending to be out, but did location gathering instead. Unfortunately, my senses stopped working after we left the school athletic building, and I really was unconscious then. When I awoke, I had no idea where I was. I was tied to a chair with rope, bound by metal chains, I got the torture works put on me. Mochizuki was also nowhere to be found. I wasn't alone, because someone said "Finally, now we can be alone, just the two of us."
That voice. It was the same as the possessive girl who gassed Mochizuki's confession. I didn't get much time to think before the culprit revealed herself. The person who etched repeatedly into my desk and created a heart from blood turned out to be a very pretty girl.
"Now that we're alone my love, I can protect you and keep you safe forever from anyone who tries to take you from me."
Who is this?
"I forgot to introduce myself to my one true love. How foolish of me! Forgive me my dear, my name is Shinozaki Rin. I'm your wife to be."
"Slow down there, this is the first time we've met. For now, I'll forget that I'm restrained like a dog and act like this is a date. So, tell me about yourself."
"I'm 17 years old, I was born on March twenty-third, I'm an only child..."
"Seventeen? My goodness, you look a bit younger than that."
"I'm seventeen, honest!"
"I never said I was doubting you. I trust you, senpai."
"Please, there's no need for formalities. We're getting married, so just call me Rin."
"Again, slow down. Before marriage, we need to date. And we can't do that properly without my consent, which we currently don't have."
"It's okay if you don't love me, all you have to do is put up with mine."
"You're not going to try to win me over? Or convince me that you're the only one who can be with me?"
"I believe you already know this to be the truth, you just haven't accepted it yet."
Of course not, I met her a few minutes ago.
"But wouldn't this relationship make you feel even better if you made me fall in love with you? Just imagine it. You would unbind me, and after I'm free, I don't run away. Instead, I run straight into your warm embrace. Sounds good, right? So why not try to seduce me or something?"
"I don't need to. Those feelings will develop on their own."
Just how confident is she?
"Obviously you have me restrained because any normal person would run away if they weren't. But I'm not normal."
"Of course you're not normal. You're my darling, and that makes you the most special person in the world."
"That's not at all what I meant."
"Then what did you mean, husband?"
"Hope that you don't find out. Mochizuki, is she okay? Where is she?"
"Oh, she's taking a long, long nap. She may be in a coma, who knows. I don't care, she deserves whatever happens to her for getting in the way of our love."
You have officially taken it too far.
"I don't appreciate that you got an innocent younger girl involved in this. I'll have to punish you."
"Eh? I'm just doing what must be done for our love, please don't be mad at me. You have no reason to want to punish me, and you have no means to do so with those chains."
I was relieved from her overconfidence, because my desire to end her power trip was a great excuse to use the pent up energy and world magic. All it took was one word.
Break.
The restraints snapped into little bits in an instant, seemingly on their own.
Rin's eyes were all the way open in shock. Her eyes were bloodshot, a deepest crimson, but my true form's eyes were more so.
"How is this possible?"
"I'm dead."
I summoned the demon scythe Visage to leave a lasting impression on the lady.
"How did this happen? I did everything in my power to make you mine and only mine, yet I'm losing him again? Why?"
"You made one mistake, though it's not really your fault. The truth of the matter is, you can't handle me."
"Though, you said you're losing me again? What do you mean again?"
"You don't remember?"
"What is it I should remember?"
"You can't remember anything about a girl in red striped overalls?"
"I do. I remember as a kid, for the longest time, every day I would go a park. Every day, a girl wearing red striped overalls would be there. And we would play together. We did this for a long time, until one day I stopped seeing her. I don't remember why though."
"I'll fill in the rest for you. That girl in the red striped overalls, was me. It's true, we played at that park every day. When you weren't there, I didn't play on my own. Instead, I sat and waited for you. When you came, I was always ecstatic. Us playing together are my most precious memories that I can't forget. And the reason that we stopped playing together, was Takagi Noriko. One day out of the blue she showed up at the park asking you to play with her. You weren't used to seeing her at the park, so you went with her. The first time this happened, was heart breaking. But she kept coming back, and demanding to play with you at the park. She kept coming to take you away from me. You didn't forget about me or my feelings at first, because you told me that you knew that watching you play with Noriko must make me hurt, and you told me that I was still your best friend. But after long, you did forget about me. You kept coming to the park, but with Noriko. You stopped paying attention to me, and only ever noticed Noriko. I've hated Noriko ever since the day she first stole you from me, and I've been dedicated to eliminating anything that gets between us since then. For so long, I've been waiting for the day we get to be together again. And here it is, except I'm just going to lose you again."
She is a psychopath, but I was speechless. Moved to tears, even. I moved closer to her. At that moment, all the memories came back. I never lost them, but they started to play over and over again in my head, in great detail. The memories of my youth, having fun, enjoying life and the company of another. The repressed memories of my childhood. The memories of the girl in pink striped overalls. The memories of Rin.
I got closer again.
"Hey, wait a second. I'm sorry for using such extreme and cruel methods to contain you, I really am! I just thought that if I didn't, you'd leave me for sure and I would bear that happening again! I'm was only doing what I thought was best, I'm serious! If you're worried about the Mochizuki girl, I can wake her up and she'll be fine! I love you and I'll do anything for you, please just put the scythe-"
A kiss. It was what I owed her for my forgetfulness. Her lips were soft, and I didn't want to stop once I started. But I retracted my lips, and told her what should have already been said.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not recognizing you as soon as I saw you. I'm sorry for not understanding your feelings. I'm sorry for treating you the way I did. I'm sorry for lying to you that day at the park when we were kids. I'm sorry for forgetting about you. I'm sorry."
I didn't end up running away. Instead, I ended up running straight into her warm embrace. It was one of the best feelings I have ever experienced.
Heh, she was right.
She didn't have to try to make me fall in love with her.
Those feelings really did develop on their own.
Though, I wasn't ready for a relationship yet. I still had life to live, and lots of choices to make.
"It's okay. I forgive you. Just hearing the words 'I'm sorry' from you and being close to you is atonement enough. Besides, I've never had any negative feelings toward you."
After I picked up my spilled emotions, I explained some things to her.
"So you were killed, and now you're back as a rogue spirit exorcist?"
"Pretty much, although I haven't gotten my first target yet. You kidnapping me is the most eventful thing that's happened since I returned to the living world."
"I see. I'm curious though, who killed you?"
"Uhh, that's confidential."
"It's okay, you don't have to tell me. Though if you do, it'll be our little secret."
I told her anyway, knowing full well what would happen.
"Noriko."
"I knew that bitch was up to something from the start! She was plotting this from the first day she showed up at the park, I just know it! I'll have to kill her for this!"
"Please don't hurt her."
"How can you defend your murderer?"
"Because she wasn't in her right mind when she did it. She actually cares a lot about me, she loves me in fact. She killed me because Mochizuki told her that she likes me. But Noriko didn't think 'Maybe he doesn't like her back' and instead went straight to 'If I can't have him, no one can' and she put a knife in my throat. I could tell you more, but it will only make you more unhappy."
"I can take it."
"Noriko's living with me."
"Can I borrow that scythe you had earlier?"
"Hell no."
"Fine."
"Don't touch Noriko."
"Do you really like her more than me that much?"
"I never said that, I just don't want you committing any crimes. I don't want you do to anything dangerous or commit any crimes. You should know that as part of my new job, if you kill someone unjustly, I'm allowed to end your life. And no more kidnapping."
"Understood. Anything for my future husband."
"You're still convinced?"
"Yes. Your passionate words and the romantic kiss basically sealed the deal."
"Kinda."
"So you admit it."
"Whatever. Take me to Mochizuki and wake her up. We're all going to my place."