Book 3: Chapter 13

I knocked lightly on Kira’s door. If it was Akiko or Maria, I might have just pushed my way in, but with Kira, we didn’t really have that kind of relationship.

“Yes, Come in?”

A voice said. I pushed opened the door and stepped into Kira’s room. Once inside, I made sure to close it behind me. I didn’t want Mr. Fukumi thinking he could peak. No sooner had I entered than I realized that her room that was usually immaculate had seemed to fall apart. Just in the last week, it looked like a tornado had rammed through it. I mean, it was probably as clean as my room ever was, but compared to what I came to expect from Kira, this was extremely worrying.

She looked up from her phone, her eyes expressionless even when she saw me. “Oh… Hakaru. You’re here.”

That was all she had to say. She immediately glanced back down at her phone again, as if my presence didn’t change anything.

“What is going on, Kira?” I asked.

“What does Hakaru mean?” Kira raised an eyebrow.

I reached out and grabbed her phone, pulling it from her. It was a cellphone, and on it was a message line. There was definitely some guy’s penis, and then there was a picture of Kira naked being returned.

“Don’t bullshit me!’ I snapped, tossing her phone to the floor. “What is going on with this crap?”

A flash of rage appeared on her face. “What do you want? You don’t own me? I can do whatever I want?”

“And this is what you want?” I demanded.

She turned her head away, unable to meet my eyes. “Who cares what I want? Not my parents. Not you!”

“I don’t even know what you want.” I shot back.

“I want to run…” She said, her body shaking. “I want to run away.”

“What?” I blinked.

“I want to run away. I want to get away from my family. My home. This place.” She said bitterly. “I want… I want you to come with me!”

I took a step back, completely surprised at her words. “Come with you? Where?”

“Does it matter? We can just… get away from them all. My whore mother. My dickless father. That bastard. All of the pigs at school who’ve used me. All of them.”

I shook my head slightly. Of all the things I thought she’d say, I hadn’t prepared for her to so boldly ask me to come with her. Then again, I had no clue what to expect when it came to her either.

“Why do you want me to come with you?”

“Because…” She shook her head. “Because… Because… it doesn’t matter. It’s just what I want, okay?”

“That’s not good enough.”

“It never is!” She snapped angrily. “I never am. That’s why you’re with Akiko and your sister, and I heard about Tori at my school. You even have my mom wrapped around your finger. There is no room for me.”

“There is room,” I said.

She rolled her eyes, turning away. “How could I ever be happy with that? You’re going to date multiple women, and me? I’m too jealous for that.”

“Jealous? Aren’t you the one that wanted me to fuck you with your mother?”

“That doesn’t matter. I’ve changed my mind.”

“Changed your mind? What are you even…”

I was really struggling to understand her. I’d have thought perhaps she was on drugs just like Eiko. Her mind seemed to be all over the place and her face seemed to be twitching as if she was unstable. I had a feeling there was nothing I could say. This feeling of helplessness was shooting through me.

“Just… leave. go… have my mom. Close your eyes, pretend she’s me. Honestly… she’s probably more innocent than I am. I’ll keep him… I’ll keep him away from mom, even though he’s recently shown interest.”

“Him? Who is it?” I demanded, “Who is pulling all the strings? I need to know. Who is blackmailing you?”

She shook her head. “It’s too late. Just forget about it. The more you get involved, the more dangerous it becomes.”

The helpless feeling overcoming me was echoed on her face. I didn’t know what else to say. I attacked her with Dirt Scribe. Like with my mother, it didn’t work. I blinked. God was protecting her mind? Wh-why? What was the point of this ability if everyone I needed to hear I couldn’t get through to? I only had one other ability, True Feelings.

“Then, let’s go,” I said, sighing.

“Excuse me?” She blinked.

“Let’s go. You wanted to run away together. So, let’s go.”

It was her turn to look surprised. “H-hakaru… you can’t mean it.”

I reached forward and grabbed Kira. “Pack your things, we’re leaving.”

I let her go and then went to her bedroom door, locking it.

“What are you doing?” She asked, her expression extremely complex.

“Your dad is some cucked pervert. Your mom is some delusional slut. Your right, there is no point in staying here any longer.”

“I-I… won’t… share…” She said stubbornly.

I smiled sadly. “My sister will always be my sister. Akiko… well, I never cared about hurting her. I talk a big game, but what have I really gained since this all started?”

“What started?” Kira asked, her eyes narrowing.

“Look, we go. We go as far as we can. We just run from this all. Okay? Just you and me. We outrun your blackmailer. We outrun the gods themselves, okay?”

This was the only thing I could think of to do. I’d leave a message for everyone, but then we’d take off for a week or so. Perhaps it’d do us good to just get away for a bit. I could get Kira to fall for me, forget about her family, and maybe even get her into a Locked Promise. Was it manipulative? Fine. But the alternative was worse. I couldn’t leave her to be corrupted any more by this bastard.

At the very least, I could keep my voice sincere. Kira was buying it too. Her eyes started to brighten with just a bit of hope. I just needed a bit. I needed to rekindle the fire inside her. She was my friend, and the least I could do was take her away for a while, away from the coach and her apathetic family.

“A-re you certain?” Kira asked. “You’ll really leave everything for me?”

I grabbed Kira and hugged her. “Kira, I love you. I won’t let you go.”

“A-and the other girls?”

“You’re my one and only.”

“Liar…” The voice didn’t come from Kira, but from a disembodied voice nearby.

Slowly, a form materialized in the middle of the room. Kira’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“You’re… Tori? How are you… what is going on?”

“Netorare!” I hissed, “What are you doing here?”

The girl who appeared looked like Netorare. It took me a moment to realize that she wasn’t. She wasn’t Netori either. There was something different in her. She had a smoothness to her. Where Netori was cocky and defiant and Netorare was sad but caring… this girl held a cold aloofness that chilled my bones.

“You’re a liar.” She said. “You shouldn’t play with a girl’s feelings like this.”

“Wh-who are you?” Kira asked.

“I am Netorase…” She said the words, rising up and floating a few steps until she was next to Kira, and then reaching out and wiping a tear from her cheek. “Everything that has happened to you. It can be laid at my sister’s feet, and this man is her agent.”

“What are you doing?” I snapped. “Was ruining her life with your champion not enough? Now you have to come here and cheat?”

Netorase ignored me. “The man who blackmails you, your father, even the boy you love here, they’re all playing a game, and you’re just a piece.”

Kira’s face fell and then she turned to me, a shocked expression. “I-is this true?”

“Don’t listen to her!” I said, “She’s just trying to confuse you so her champion wins. The man doing this to you. She’s the one who gives him that power.”

“You… know this? And you didn’t say anything?”

“We can still leave,” I said helplessly. “She’s one of the people we need to get away from.”

“You never had any intention of quitting or leaving. You just wanted to trick her into submitting to you.” Netorase sighed. “That is the problem with my sister. When you steal, it’s difficult, to be honest. I’m the only one willing to show the truth. Girl… he attempted to use a skill to read your mind to help himself manipulate you. I shielded you from this. Now, I will return the skill unto him, and you can see the truth for the first time.”

“What?” My eyes widened.

Kira’s eyes suddenly focused on me, and she gasped. I felt nothing. Then again. Dirt Scribe never was something that people could feel. What was she seeing? Was she seeing the fact I wanted to build a harem? Was she learning about the game? Did she see the things I had done with her mother? The things I knew about her father? The sadistic things I did to Akiko? The disgust I had over seeing her with other men? I felt completely naked. What was she wearing?

“That’s enough…” Kira turned away from me, a complicated look on her face. “I’ve… heard enough.”

“You… you can’t listen to her.” I begged. “She just wants to share you… with… with everyone. She wants to use you like a sex doll.”

“Is that better than what you want?” Kira demanded. “To treat me like some trophy in your game?”

I winced, lowering my head. How had this gone so badly? These gods and goddesses didn’t play fair. How could I have done anything in this situation?

“I think… you should leave.” Kira spun away.

“I’m not leaving you!” I said.

“Well, I’m done with you!” She shot back.

“I am Netori’s champion. I am the champion of theft! I don’t need your permission. So, what, Rosy here wants to cheat. Who says I would allow it! If you want to run away with me, then I’ll just take you!”

I took a step forward, reaching out to grab Kira. I’d take what I want! I wanted Kira out of this mess. I’d make it happened, no matter what thoughts this goddess tries to implant into her brain. I barely took my second step forward when the world suddenly turned to white.

“I already told you once…” a voice echoed in my head, but this time it sounded like Kira’s voice had been overlapped with Netorase’s. “It was never going to work this way.”

I took my next step as darkness plunged around me. I blinked several times, white spots in my vision. Looking around, I realized I was standing in the middle of the street. I was somewhere between Kira’s house and my own. As my thought recollected, fierce anger burst through me. That damn Netorase! Was she ever going to play fair? 

“Netorare!” I immediately called out. “Netorare! Get your ass out here! Your sister is a cheating bitch!”

Only the darkness of the outside was there to answer me. Damn it. Was she abandoning me too? Or did Netorase distract her sister for a bit so she could do this to me? I believed that. Netorare had done the same to Netori. In fact, it seemed like all the god’s and goddesses could cheat and screw around, and no one had my back in the slightest.

“Fuck all of you!” I shouted, screaming at the stars. “All of you gods. You can all fuck off!”

As I was shouting, a car was driving down the street quickly. I jumped to the side, but the car seemed to be following me.

I had already back up to the sidewalk, and then the car bumped over the sidewalk. At the last second, I leaped back, narrowly avoiding it and falling on my ass.

“What the hell?” I cursed.

Before I could say anything else, a bunch of men got out of the car. They were wearing suits and sunglasses. Was that, the Yakuza?

“What?”

“This is for what you did to Gina!” A man shouted, kicking me in the gut.

I keeled over, and as that happened, someone shoved a bag over my head. A bunch of men grabbed me, picked me up, and threw me into the back of the car. Before I could take my next breath, we were already speeding away. Damn it, what now?