Part 1 

"Ahh, I'm going to finally buy a phone, gonna finally buy a phone! I've been dreaming about this since you got your first phone!" 

After rehearsal, Charlotte was skipping happily as we walked over to the electronic store. 

"You seem very happy." 

In contrast, I was exhausted. 

"I definitely am." 

In this suburb, we weren't very far from an electronic store so it'd be a short walk. 

We were a street away from the theatre we had just left, beside it, was a mall along with other types of facilities lined up like gyms, specific-type stores and even tiny stores. 

It was the type of place where if you wanted to hang out with your friends, you'd meet them here. 

So there were a couple of heads around. 

But first, since I'm all groggy and tired from rehearsal:

"I'm gonna go buy some coffee, do you want some?" 

"Yes, please." 

Charlotte nodded.

"Alright, just wait over there on that bench." 

I went off to buy some coffee to restore my energy. 

Approaching the person in the shop, I sighed. 

"Two flat-white coffees please." 

"Coming right up, sir... Nice shirt, by the way." 

How nice! What a nice store employee! 

"Thanks! I like your hairstyle too." 

We had a nice chat as the coffee was being made. 

Ten minutes later, I walked back, sighing satisfyingly as the heat seeped into my hands as I held two coffees. 

"-I told you, I don't wanna go with you!" 

I heard Charlotte's voice from the distance. 

Ironing my sights, I noticed two men surrounding her. 

"-Please? I mean, we don't see cute girls often at all. Why won't you go on a date with me?" 

"-It won't hurt, just ten minutes with us and you'll feel all good." 

The men who had Charlotte pinned against the wall looked thuggish. 

They had black beanies and dark clothing, seemingly to hide in the darkness if anything went wrong. I could also see the masks and glasses popping out of their pockets. 

That, along with their rugged appearance made it clear to me that they were suspicious people, not just some high-schoolers picking up some girls.

"How many times do I have to say it? No. Can. Do. So go away, I'm waiting for someone!" 

"-Tch, just come with me." 

The plump looking thug grabbed Charlotte's hand, pulling her away. 

By that time, I had already made my way up to them. 

I grabbed the plump thug's hand and separated it from Charlotte's. 

"What do you think you're doing?" 

Surprised by the swift separation, the thug stepped back and glared at me. 

"Who the hell are you?" 

"I'm her-" 

I'm her... What? 

What is Charlotte to me? 

It feels weird to call myself her friend. 

Nor does it feel right to call her childhood friends either. 

So what is she to me? 

"-...boyfriend. She's my girlfriend, so back off." 

I closed my mouth abruptly after saying that. 

From the corner of my eye, I saw Charlotte move suddenly after hearing me say that. 

But I had my attention in front of me. 

"Boyfriend, huh? I thought she was alone, haah... Alright, Marcus, let's go, we'll find another one." 

The thug to the side, who was pretty skinny compared to the plump guy sighed, sounding seemingly defeated. 

"No, we're not going. You had a strong grip, that hurt my hand you know? What are you going to do about it?" 

The plump thug seemed irritated as he rubbed his wrist following when I roughly separated their hands via forced detachment. 

I had a strong grip from my finger training and exercises. Having strong fingers to finger keys effectively is practically essential to playing a wide range of pieces, so I vigorously trained them. 

I also trained using a handgrip tool, pretty much every day. 

So even if I never thought about it, I subtly acknowledged the fact that my grip was significantly stronger than a normal person's. 

"There's nothing I can do for you, so go away-" 

"-Take this!"

Before I could completely reply, I felt a rough blunt pain hit my cheeks.

The thug had cowardly punched me as I was replying. 

With my face hit, I stumbled backward.

The world around me began to look dizzy as I tried my best to recover from the sudden blow. 

Between the two seconds of recovering, I noticed the other thug running toward me, preparing to kick me. 

I didn't react fast enough. 

Taking advantage of this, he kicked me in the thigh.

...But he was weak, so I stayed standing. 

Completely ignoring the presence of the other thug, I stepped up and grabbed the plump thug's shoulders, pushing his upper body down as I kneed his stomach. 

"Urgghk!"

Receiving this blow, he shouted in agonizing pain but quickly replied by running up against me, pushing his head against my stomach. 

"You're being pathetic, just get outta here!" 

I felt a boom explode against my back as he pushed me against the wall, I screamed at the plump thug, telling him to stop. 

He straightened his back as he pinned me against the wall.

I could feel his warm greasy breath sigh against my face, that and his disgusting yellow unbrushed teeth almost made me puke. 

"Oh? This shirt looks expensive." 

As he pinned me against the wall, he grasped my shirt. 

Yes, it was expensive. 

Charlotte happened to pick the most expensive shirt when we were out buying clothes. 

"W-What are you doing?" 

"It would be a shame if something happened to it, huh? Maybe that would be enough to repay the pain you caused to my wrist." 

"No... Don't you-!" 

Before I could do anything, the thug tightened his grip on my shirt, ripping it off.

Buttons flew out as I heard the distinct sounds of fabric ripping. 

I was now shirtless. 

Because of this, he could see the toned muscles on my body. 

"W-Woah."

Surprised by how I was underneath, he panicked. 

"Get off of me!" 

I grabbed his head and kneed his face, blood gushing out of his nose. 

But before he could tend to his wound, I grabbed his neck and put him under a chokehold. 

"What are you gonna do about this?! You just destroyed the shirt Charlotte bought for me!" 

I felt my heart race and burn with molten feelings as I tightened my chokehold, making the thug gurgle as he made short ugly pathetic gasps for air. 

"You're gonna pay somehow, right? Right?!" 

His eyes began to roll back as I further tightened the chokehold.

I could see his skin begin to whiten as his hands scratched my forearms. 

"Urrghuhah-" 

The thug uglily gasped for air, gurgling on his own sounds. 

That wasn't enough, so with my other hand, I gripped into his hair, using that force to even further strangle his neck against my forearm. 

His sounds began to quieten, I could feel the strength in his hands slowly weaken as his body went limp. His skin was now completely pale, the life on his expression almost null. 

I won't forgive him. 

I won't forgive him for destroying the shirt that Charlotte bought for me-

"That's enough, you'll kill him! Arthur!" 

As I was immersed in choking the thug, Charlotte's voice rang into my ears. 

The burning sensation within my heart dissipated instantly. 

Immediately, I let go. 

The thug collapsed onto his knees, his hands grasping for his neck as he instantly gasped for short breathes of air. 

I could see the red mark of part of my forearm almost burnt onto his neck from the considerable pressure. 

"But, Charlotte-" 

I felt a sudden burn on my cheek. 

"I appreciate what you did but you almost became a murderer! Couldn't you tell that he was about to die?!" 

Charlotte had smacked my face. 

The corner of her eyes was wet as she looked at me with an expression twisted with anxiety and anger. 

"...Charlotte, I'm sorry..."

I lowered my head, looking toward my feet. 

I completely understood what I did. 

I almost killed a man. 

Luckily, Charlotte stopped me, or my hands would have been stained with an unwashable sin. 

Charlotte looked at the thug on the ground, recovering from the chokehold and glanced to the side, where the other thug was before he ran. 

She then looked back at me, grabbing my hands. 

"Let's get out of here." 

Dragged by Charlotte, we escaped the scene.

Part 2 

To calm down, we decided to sit on a bench. 

"He destroyed the shirt you bought for me." 

I glared downward at the ripped shirt I was holding in my hands, gripping it. 

"P-P-Put a shirt on, okay?! People are looking!"  

Charlotte put her hands on her face as she panicked. 

But despite having her hands on her face, her head was turned straight toward me, with her fingers separated so that she got a good view of my body. 

"What shirt, it's ripped apart? Can I borrow your jacket?" 

"No, yes- No!" 

"Wait, why would you say no?" 

"Because it wouldn't fit!" 

"Ah..." 

I got the feeling that wasn't the real reason for her saying no. 

"Ah, well, I still gotta put on this shirt anyway, I'll feel exposed." 

Even if the shirt was ripped again with all its buttons gone, I put it back on. 

I felt warm closure for the back of my back as the fabric covered it. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same thing for the front of my body, because there were no more buttons. 

"Uwah." 

I shivered as the cold air seeped across my chest and abs. 

"Hey, Charlotte." 

I called out to Charlotte.

"Y-Yeah?" 

Charlotte jumped on her seat, her slightly curved back shuddering into a perfectly straight back. 

"Why are you acting so nervous?" 

As I turned to face her, I leaned forward, closing onto her. 

My bare front body in front of her eyes. 

"Uh, Uhm, I didn't know you, worked out?" 

"Well of course you wouldn't know, I always did it in my room." 

I heard from the internet that working out could relieve symptoms of poor mental health, so I did it, intensely. But I didn't notice the changes as a result, apparently, I'd be compared to a firefighter?

Why's her face red? 

I had no idea. 

I could feel the heat of her blush from where I was. 

Her eyes were centred toward my chest, glaring at them with a curious look of wonder and awe. 

"Do you want to touch it?" 

I looked toward my chest. 

I could see an explosion violently occur above Charlotte's head as I made that offer. 

Seeing as though I was deprived of socialness from both my peers and "loved" ones, I had no idea during the time that what I offered would be considered pretty lewd. Before I had never interacted with girls enough to know that showing off my front body would constitute as "sexy" and "hot" for them. 

Of course, I was seized of such other common sense as well, but that doesn't matter now. 

"..." 

Charlotte paused, before slowly nodding. 

She then reached out her hands, pointing the muscles on my chest. 

"Arthur... You called me your girlfriend, right?" 

Charlotte meekly said, fiddling with her fingers. 

"Y-Yeah, only to help us get us out of that sticky situation." 

I could feel Charlotte's palm go to my abs, gently rubbing against them. 

I could see a satisfied grin etch on Charlotte's face, along with eyes of wonder and astonishment. 

With that, my face red went. 

I could feel my heart beating at an unnaturally fast rate. 

Having Charlotte touch me made me feel weird, I didn't understand why though.

"T-That's e-enough." 

I grabbed her hand and pushed her away. 

"-Come with me, I'm not leaving you alone as I buy a spare shirt." 

"...Okay."

I stood up, grabbing her hand. 

As we walked off, I heard voices from bystanders. 

"-...What a weird couple."

"-Touching each other in public? That's next level lewdness." 

"-Isn't that guy that musician?" 

Part 2 

"What do you think of this shirt?" 

Charlotte held up a black T-shirt with piano-like features on it. 

More detailedly, the piano on the shirt resembled how Charlotte's piano form looked like. 

"It's perfect." 

After buying the shirt, I put it on in front of the employee who smiled stiffly. 

"Alright, let's go buy that phone." 

"Yes!" 

We walked over to the electronic shop, after entering, we were greeted by stacks of technology surrounding us.

"Waah! They all look so good! 

Charlotte ran over to a selection of phones out on display, she went to one of them and began to flick around randomly, like it was her first time touching them.

"That seems to be... A touch phone T-4, it's a model from last year." 

"Ooh, it looks cool." 

Charlotte had a fascinated look on her face, her eyes sparkled as she continued to play around. 

"Uhm, all, grand, pianos, should, be, burnt, destroyed. Should, die." 

"Hey, what're you searching up on a display phone?" 

"Nothing~" 

Charlotte quickly deleted the words she typed in. 

That didn't matter, cause she audibly muttered what she slowly typed in, so I heard it all. 

She seems to really hate grand pianos. 

"You should check out other phones before coming back to this." 

"Yeah, maybe I should." 

For the next thirty minutes, Charlotte began to fiddle on the phones on display, checking them all out. During this, an employee came over and asked if we needed help, I told her that we'll call her when we needed her. 

"So, which one do you want?" 

"The Touch Phone T-5, it has a default piano app, right?" 

"Yeah, the Touch company's been investing into music lately, so there are midi (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and default musical apps like GarageConcert, where you can make, record and sample music into. I've made some sample music using it, I have it saved on my laptop." 

"You know, if you're gonna advertise it that hard, the employee will lose her job."

Charlotte pointed toward the female employee glaring at me from afar, giving me a thumbs up.

"I can't help it, as a Professional Musician so I gotta keep up to date with the trends." 

"Well, it does seem cool, so I'll get it! And I'll become a digital composer! Just kidding." 

Charlotte flapped her hands above her head, cutely proclaiming that out loud. 

"Alright, Miss employee, we've decided on our purchase." 

And so, we bought Charlotte's first phone. 

... 

....

......

"What do you think?" 

"I haven't done anything with it." 

For some reason, we were still in the store. 

I pulled out my phone, comparing it with Charlotte's. 

"Hey, I wanna cover like yours, can we get matching covers?" 

"You want matching covers with me?" 

"Yeah!" 

Charlotte and I walked over to the phone cover section of the shop. 

My phone cover depicted a violin, which I bought in this same shop not too long ago, so it should be here somewhere. 

As I was browsing, trying to find the same cover for Charlotte, I heard the shop's door disturbingly grate open. 

"...?!" 

A cold shiver shuddered down my spine as the air suddenly became cold. 

I felt a cruel slice on my neck, as if an imaginary knife glided over it. 

A monstrous wave of nervousness climbed through my body as the tip of my fingers began to feel numb. My vision narrowed as I began to tremble, the cover in my phone hitting the ground with a distinct thump. 

"Arthur...?" 

Charlotte noticed something wrong and grabbed my arm. 

I began to sweat profusely as I was reminded of this particular presence. 

This feeling. 

This familiar, haunting feeling. 

Slowly and mechanically urning over, my eyes widened.

I saw a figure of a woman. 

An old woman, a demon, trash. 

"Arthur?" 

The old woman, meeting my gaze looked at me with a surprised expression, saying my name. 

That woman. 

That woman. 

That... God damned woman. 

Mother.