"Shizune, why do you have that look on your face?" Emília, who is standing next to me, asks with curiosity.
"Are you looking at that little cat? His painting is quite beautiful...although I think it's a bit inappropriate," Emília says while looking at my brother's painting.
"Yes..." I try to ignore him completely while focusing on the other artworks, most of which are very good, showing that everyone here is talented.
'Something is wrong with my head...' I'm not sure, but I decide to ignore it.
"Emília, can we go out together?" Emília looks at the professor for a moment, then confirms that yes.
"Sure, since we're already done with this part, the professor is unlikely to assign anything else," She walks excitedly towards the door while waving at me.
I take a deep breath and go with her, I don't want to stay here and just see one negative thing after another.
I follow Emília, who is walking excitedly through the hallways.
"I'll take you to the cafeteria, they serve these divine little snacks that you can't find anywhere else in the city."
"Emília, could you tell me about the latest news? I mean, I want to know if I've missed anything interesting in the last few days...it's just that I'm without my phone."
"Hmm, there are lots of really interesting things, did you know they're opening a new restaurant on 12th street? I heard they'll have food from various countries all in one place, I'm sure it'll be amazing."
"Emília, I was referring to more serious news, if you know what I mean." I don't need to know about restaurants, I need to know about more relevant current events.
"There's a strange rumor going around the college that one of my classmates is studying," Emília leans in and speaks in a hushed tone, as if sharing a big secret.
"From what she told me, one of the students simply disappeared, vanished, was never seen again."
'I see.' She didn't need to continue talking, I understood that he disappeared.
"I think his name was Rayna...or Rayan...I don't remember now, but he hasn't been seen for several days."
"Even the police drones couldn't find any traces of him."
"..." I swallow hard at the name I hear, this is the same name as the guy I was supposedly going to run away with.
"Some say he was kidnapped, can you believe that? Kidnapped, that's extremely rare, I even thought it was just gossip, but a small headline appeared about it."
"C-Can we change the subject?" I don't want to hear about something that I'm sure was the fault of my supposed brother, because why didn't I think of that? It's obvious he did something to that guy.
'...Wait...why didn't I think of that...' something seems wrong.
"Okay, putting that bizarre topic aside, are you interested in that little cat?" She changes the subject too quickly.
"Who?" I don't know who she's talking about.
"Who? Obviously that little cat who did the painting you were observing."
"Definitely not." As if I would be interested in him, especially since I was a guy before, and I also prefer to keep my distance from that crazy sociopath project.
"Are you sure?" She asks with a mischievous look.
"He's quite handsome, and seems like an interesting guy."
"...Yes, I'm sure he's VERY interesting." Interesting, perhaps too much for my taste, if she knew what that lunatic is capable of, she wouldn't be here talking this nonsense.
"And you, do you like anyone?" I try to change the subject, I don't want to talk about my brother.
"No, I haven't found anyone I like yet, but I'm sure the perfect guy is waiting for me somewhere," As she rambles on about her supposed perfect guy, we arrive at the cafeteria.
I let her choose what we're going to eat while I sit at one of the tables, the cafeteria is somewhat empty, the silence is comforting, so I just close my eyes and rest my head on the table.
However, I think this was a mistake, I'm so mentally drained that I fall asleep and end up having a nightmare, dreaming that I'm being killed by my "brother" for committing a supposed mistake that I shouldn't have.
These dreams have become almost recurrent, which made me obey him even more.
It seems that even in the land of dreams I can't escape my Yanderes, I wake up frightened and from what I can see, not even 7 minutes have passed, as the clock on the wall shows almost the same time.
'I'm sweating cold...' I think I'll never get 100% used to this.
Emília seems to still be buying the things, so I use this time to calm down from the nightmare.
After a few more minutes, she comes running, holding a bunch of things to eat, she has an excited smile and shining eyes.
"Shizune, I brought a little bit of everything for you to try," She says as she approaches excitedly.
I look around just to make sure he's not here, confirming this, I feel calmer as I watch Emília place the items on the table.
"I recommend this meat bun, it's wonderful," She hands me a plastic bag that has a bun inside, I notice she's already eating something.
"...Thank you," I thank her politely as I open the package and take a bite of the bun.
'It's really very good...' I continue eating the things she brought until both of us are satisfied.
'This reminds me...I don't have any money...how will I pay for this?' It's my brother who has all the money, he didn't leave me with anything that can be used to pay.
"Emília, I don't have any money."
"It's okay, I bought it for you, don't worry too much about it, besides, your expression seems a bit vacant, I thought you might be hungry," Emília says as she savors some kind of sweet.
'She also noticed that I'm strange...I knew, my brother did something to me.' I think about what was done, then I look at the time.
I look at the clock on the wall, showing a time that's almost too late.
"!!!" It's late, I need to leave now since I have to meet my brother in the parking lot to go home.
"Emília, I need to go," I can't give him any reason to lock me up at home.
"Already? But it's just getting dark now," she says in a sad voice.
"I have...strict rules I have to follow." This way I'll seem like a child, but I prefer to be a free child than a locked up adult, so I don't mind speaking in this way.
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow in class, have a great night," She says goodbye with a smile while sipping a milkshake she brought.
"Sure." It was fun, I think, she's too energetic for my taste, so she's not the kind of person I like to be around, but she said a lot of useful things that really helped me.
As I think about today and what's wrong with me, I run quickly to the college parking lot, I can't be late in any way, my paranoia activates slightly, building scenarios and things I've let slide.
There aren't many people on the campus anymore, as the schedule has ended, certain areas finish earlier while others finish later.
The arts area is one of those that end late, so we'll usually be the last to leave.
Soon I arrive at the parking lot and see my brother standing in front of the car waiting.
'Of course he would be waiting...' I'd like it to be different, but this is my life, I walk up to him as he smiles at me.
"I thought you might be late," There's a slightly sarcastic tone, as if he really wanted me to be late.
"Good evening, brother..." I just greet him and get in the car silently, the garage is empty, it seems many students don't have cars or motorcycles, so it's just the two of us here.
He soon gets in the car, sitting next to me, while giving commands for the car to drive home.
"I see you made a friend, she seems like a lively person," He starts the conversation while I just nod.
"I heard an interesting conversation between you two, you know," I look at him in surprise.
'This bastard even put bugs on me?'
"...Brother, did you put bugs on me?" I ask without any enthusiasm.
"Yep, it's in your dress, right at the bottom, near your butt," He doesn't hesitate to tell me, after all, he knows I won't have the courage to try to remove it.
"...Do you have any questions?" He asks me as if I would be curious.
"...What did you do to Rayan?" He certainly made this person disappear, it seems he doesn't like me mentioning another man in front of him, as his expression immediately soured.
"I just taught him his place, don't worry about it, as for that friend of yours, I think you can keep her, she doesn't seem like a bad girl."
'He must have already researched her...' I sigh, it seems that even imperceptibly, he still controls every aspect of my current life.
"Brother, why can't you give me more freedom? I promise I'll never report you or try to run away," I know well that these two actions would only lead me to death, so why would I try to do them?
"Because you're not worthy of all that trust, especially now that you don't remember anything, I can't guarantee you would obey me with 100% certainty."
In a way, he's right, nothing guarantees that I would obey him, but I still hate it.
"Don't make that grumpy face, it's not like you need freedom anyway, you already have me, what else do you need?"
It seems that being a Yandere reduces certain mental abilities, this question is totally stupid, everyone wants to be free, so why would I want to be trapped with this lunatic just because he wants it?
'Wait...reduces certain mental abilities?...mind-affecting machines...' I start putting the pieces together and reach a frightening hypothesis.
'Thank you, Emília, you helped a lot...and thank you, Paranoia, that I inherited from the first world.' I think as I make a decision.
"Brother...I think I've made a decision..."
"Oh, really? And what would that be?" He asks curiously.
"A surprise." I say to him with a smile, I've already understood what my destiny in this world is.
I'm doomed to be locked up as soon as college is over, no genius is needed to understand that he's going to lock me up forever.
However, there is a severe problem in being locked up that I just noticed, if I'm trapped, I can't seek to break my curse.
I need to be free to try to end this problem, so I know I can't stay in this world with this guy.
I took too long to notice that he is slowly controlling 100% of any point in my life.
I only realized this because of the paranoia I inherited from the first world, he's doing something to me that's erasing my free will.
I noticed this today at college.
When I looked at him painting that picture, I realized that something didn't seem right, combining this with what I learned on the internet using Emília's cell phone, I noticed something I initially ignored.
This world is modern, very modern, and my brother is a genius who invented a memory eraser, thinking about this, something becomes clear.
He knew it was "me" who damaged his machine, but still used it on me, making me have no memories.
And now he's probably using another machine to take away my free will as punishment.
He even confirmed this to me when he said that to prevent a human from making mistakes, there are two methods.
And one of these methods is to remove what allows him to make mistakes.
So it's natural that he removes any physical and mental freedom I have, he's doing this slowly in this last week.
'It must be the vitamins...' I think I prefer death over becoming a doll without "life" that only obeys because if I become an empty shell, I won't try to break my curse.
"Brother, could you give me the vitamins?" He seems not to understand, but still gets them from a compartment on the side of the car.
'That's why he was always with me at breakfast, lunch and dinner...he wanted to make sure I took this thing...' I think I'm right and I'm going to bet on it.
I'm going to take several, if it's just vitamins I'll survive...but if it really is something else, I'll die.
I don't want to die, but I don't want to become a puppet that doesn't know it's being controlled.
"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He sees me taking several of the pills and seems desperate.
He tells the car to go to the hospital and tries to make me spit them out, but I fight with him, pushing him away.
"Why all this desperation, brother, they're just some vitamins," I say with a smile, this is the first time I've lost my fear of him.
I think in the end, my body that was "trained" by him always wanted to see him desperate.
"Y-YOU IDIOT" He speaks angrily as we fight inside the car.
Soon blood starts to drip from my nose while I literally feel nothing, it seems I've lost general senses.
'I knew it...this bastard was trying to destroy my mind...' Blood is dripping from my eyes but I don't feel anything.
It seems this thing directly affects the brain, I breathe with difficulty as I feel my heart beating slower.
'Sayuri...I beg you, let the next world be more peaceful...' This world almost ended my mind without killing me, if that had happened, I would have been trapped here for years without any progress.
Slowly my vision fades as I hear nothing and my heart stops beating, I just bet my life and won the bet, paying with my life.
At least I protected my mind from being broken, and this death was painless, which takes away a large part of my fear.
My last thought is a hope for a better world next time, and so I end my third life, which ended due to the indirect fault of my Yandere who was trying to destroy my mind.
And it was thanks to this destruction that I was able to make such a crazy decision that I never would have had the courage to make before.