She appeared to them in a casually-worn blue yukata, surprise and happiness radiating from her as she spotted him.

Aiden was assaulted. Fast as lightning, Rumi rammed into him and forced him off his feet. They landed several feet away, her arms coiled around him like a Boa constrictor.

"Piggy!" The young woman all but cried. "You're alive!" 

Aiden blinked away the stars in his eyes and felt a vein pop in his head. You have the goddamn nerve to act so cute and concerned when you already killed me once before? 

It felt like a lie and served only to piss him off. He was just about done with both mother and daughter. Even fucking them till morning had done fuck all to stop them from killing him. 

"Of course I'm alive," He snapped harshly. "I left to get away from you and your psychotic mother." He admitted readily in the most hostile tone humanly possible. 

Rumi, whose head had buried itself in his chest, went still. She pushed herself up and looked down at him in confusion.  "What?" She asked. She offered a shaky, fragile smile. "Yuuji, what are you talking about?" Tears pooled at her eyes. She gave stared at him cautiously, looking more vulnerable than he'd ever seen her. "You...you left us?"

Aiden cursed. "This fucking..." He wanted to beat her. But the girl's strength was monstrous. Was she always this strong? "What, did you think I was kidnapped? Obviously I left. After all the nonsense I had to deal with from you two, you thought I'd stay? God, you're stupid." 

His tone was mean and cold, and he wanted it to be. If it meant she killed him again, so be it. He was too goddamn fed-up.

Aiden saw raw pain pass through her eyes. "This is my fault." She muttered. "I did this..."

"Don't flatter yourself, both of you were awful," He bit out. "Now let me go."

Rumi's whole body visibly trembled. They'd long since attracted numerous odd gazes by the other people in the building and his words along with her tears and shaking made all of them look at him with blatant aggression.

He felt her tighten her hold. "No!" Her voice shook. "If I let you go, you'll leave again. I-I'll take you home....we can talk it out."

"Talk?" He laughed. "Rumi, I don't want to 'talk'. I want to get as far away from you and your clingy bitch of a mother as I can."

Rumi released one of her arms, bringing a hand to the side of her face. "You don't mean that. You don't!" She let out a sudden unexpected shout laced with venom. She looked on the verge of full mental collapse. 

Her tone turned gentle. "I'll be better, okay? I'll be a good girl. Alright? Yuuji, please," She begged.

He felt wetness at his cheek. He was disgusted. Loathing poisoned his heart. "No." He was ready to die.

But Rumi didn't react as he expected. She didn't lash out, didn't scream. "No...no, no, no, no. Yuuji. Yuuji, please. I'm sorry. I'll be good. I love you, you know? I really..." She trailed off, choking back sobs.

From a bit aside, Kanon and Akari looked at them with bag of mixed emotions. They stood there awkwardly, neither knowing what to do or say.

Aiden, for his part, wasn't at all impressed with her little display. His heart was unfeeling. "You love me?" He snorted. "After all your 'piggy this, piggy that' bullshit?" He condemned her. "Let's not pretend you ever gave me the time of day before I got pretty." He couldn't exactly say he hated her for killing him, so he used her piss-poor attitude towards him as an excuse instead. Not that he ever gave a damn about her annoying mouth. It's not like he was really Yuuji so people calling the boy a lardass did nothing to inspire anger in him. 

He stared into her eyes, saying, "Rumi. Look at me." Once he was sure he had her attention, he drove the last nail in. "I could never love someone as shallow as you." It was said without a shred of resentment, just a calm, sure statement of fact.

Honestly, this whole thing is freaking ridiculous. What, is this some kind of drama? It's stupid. 

Well, whatever. May as well have some fun with him. She's probably going to try and kill them all at this point anyway. Or maybe her mother would once she caught up to them.

Either way. It didn't really matter. Hence, fun. 

"Besides, Why would I ever want you when I already have Kanon?"

The girl in question nearly jumped up in shock at her name being mentioned. "M-Me?!" She squeaked.

Rumi recoiled in shock. "Kanon? Yuuji and...you two..." She looked back and forth between them, seemingly in a daze, so much so that her grip loosened enough to where Aiden was able to throw her off.

She let out a pained cry but Aiden felt no sympathy. 

He simply stood to his feet and walked towards Kanon, who was still in disbelief of the situation. He draped an arm around her shoulder. "Look at this, Rumi. This is a girl worth falling in love with." 

He finished by bringing a hand and turning the girl's head up towards him. He cupped her cheek and stroked her with his thumb."You're the one I want. Only you."

Kanon's head was like a strawberry. She stared at him, transfixed. His eyes were warm and soft, gazing at her with a tenderness she'd never seen from him before. Her heart was beating like wild!

w-what?  The one Yuuji likes...is me?

Kanon's poor little heart couldn't handle such a sudden declaration! She had no idea what to feel or think! Sure, she'd had confessions before but only from boys. Yuuji...

She swallowed as she felt the strength in his rough, calloused hands. His subtle, masculine fragrance like sandalwood and cloves.

....Yuuji is a man. 

Even If he's not much older than her, there was no mistaking that. Somehow, he was just more mature and sensual than others their age. It confused the heck out of her! 

She'd only thought he was a nice friend, someone who didn't consider her a person of the opposite sex at all. Or appear to, anyway. But what's this?! 

He actually...w-wants me?  

Needless to say, she was having a meltdown. So much so that she fainted just seconds after his words reached her ear.

Aiden blinked. What a comedic reaction...

Akari glared at him and pinched his side hard. "I knew you were after us!"

Aiden ignored her. He simply held the unconscious Kanon in his arms, holding her as if she were precious. As if Rumi didn't even exist. 

Then he flicked his gaze towards for the briefest of moments. And dismissed her almost instantly.

"Just go. I'm done with you two."

Rumi didn't move an inch for the longest time. Finally, her eyes turned hollow.. And just like that, she stumbled off. 

As she left, Aiden was sure of one thing.

I'm definitely dying again.

Should he run? Not that Naoko wouldn't find him anyway.

Speaking of, where is she? Maybe the girl had come here alone? Either way, Aiden was pretty confident that even if this was just a happenstance meeting Naoko had for sure caught wind of his location by now. Was probably on her way now.

....Ah, whatever. If I'm dying again I may as well have a good soak and massage before I do. 

***

Everything hurt. Her heart most of all. It felt like a hole had been gouged out of it. The world swam, her vision blurred from tears that just wouldn't stop. 

She walked the streets like a zombie, wearing disgust and self-loathing like a shroud. I was so stupid, She thought numbly. Why did I think he would care about me when all I did was badmouth him? 

I should've been kinder. I should've...

She hated herself. Why couldn't she just have been honest with him from the start? Instead, she kept everything hidden and only ever acted like a creep. A pervert. Of course he'd believe she only wanted him once he became handsome. She acted like a slut with him so suddenly. She never even tried to talk to him about how she felt. 

I helped drive him away. 

it was bad enough her mother clung to him like she did. But Rumi was even worse. Acting childish, spoiled and mean.

I made him hate me.

The thought threatened to crush her. Her mind drifted. 

Kanon...

She saw her standing there next to him, looking down in concern. So innocent, pure. Of course he'd love her and not Rumi. 

If Rumi was more like Kanon, maybe she could've been honest with him. What was she supposed to do without Yuuji? It was too painful...missing him hurt too much. All this time, it had been agony. 

A life without Yuuji, a life where she was hated by Yuuji, was unbearable. 

...It wasn't worth living anymore.

***

Remember there is now a discord server for this novel where you can find some character models and receive updates on new chapters.

https://discord.gg/kwQFZ5X2eR