Chapter 43: Yukina

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Blood.

Blood again.

Her vision flickered once more.

Blood spread from the edges of her field of view.

It soaked the entire world.

Mashiro lowered her head.

She saw that her own body was stained with red.

Blood still dripped from her fingertips.

A smell so metallic it turned bitter filled the air.

Faceless corpses lay scattered all around.

They looked like a pile of broken dolls.

They did not move.

The only thing still moving was the small pink-white figure before her eyes… Yukina.

“N-no… don’t…”

The Yukina who had still been talking tough a second ago was slumped on the ground.

Her school uniform was covered in blood.

Her legs shook violently.

Warm liquid ran down her thighs.

Mashiro saw her terrified expression.

She reached out.

She instinctively took a step forward.

“I-I’m sorry, don’t kill me—!”

Yukina let out a piercing scream.

She flipped over at once.

She went down on all fours.

Her forehead slammed heavily into the floor tiles and let out a dull thud.

“I was wrong, I was wrong, I was really wrong… Yumiko forced me, she forced me to do all of it! I didn’t want to, I really didn’t want to! I-I still have an older sister. My sister works at Feilin Corporation. She’s so pitiful. If I die, who’ll take care of her… Please, I’m begging you, spare me! I’ll lick your shoes, I’ll be your puppy, I’ll do anything you say—!”

She shouted as she cried.

She lay wretchedly on the ground.

Her former arrogant posture had vanished completely.

She even stuck out her tongue and leaned in toward Mashiro’s feet.

Disgusting.

This creature that lied through its teeth, as despicable as a hyena — what even was it?

It was simply nauseating.

Mashiro felt instinctive revulsion.

She kicked the other girl over with one foot.

She reached out, locked onto her throat, lifted her off the ground, and pinned her against the wall.

Plaster rustled down from the wall.

Yukina’s toes kicked wildly in the pool of blood.

Her heels scraped out long, thin marks.

“Who are you really?” Mashiro demanded.

“Why are you using her body to do something this vile? Where is the real Classmate Takanashi?”

Yukina’s face flushed scarlet.

Then it rapidly turned purplish-blue.

Her pupils rolled upward from asphyxiation.

Her mouth opened and closed like a fish thrown onto the shore.

From between her teeth she forced out a few broken words:

“I… I am… Takanashi… Yukina… ah…”

Mashiro’s pupils contracted.

She remembered.

She remembered everything.

This was Yukina.

This really was Yukina.

The villain who had once stood at the very back of the bullying group, laughing along with the others, enjoying the act of treating people badly.

How could she have forgotten?

Had too much time passed?

She had actually been unable to recall even this face of hers.

How strange.

When exactly had she changed?

A month ago? No, it had not been that short. Then two months ago?

She could not remember clearly.

It was as if, on a certain day, she had suddenly changed.

There had been no transition.

There had been no reason.

She had become quiet and gentle, and had even been willing to take enormous risks to help her silently from behind.

What on earth had happened?

What had happened… that could make a person’s personality change this much.

It was impossible to understand.

It was as if she had become a different person.

As if she had swapped souls.

“Mashiro…”

Suddenly, a familiar voice interrupted Mashiro’s thoughts.

It was low and soft.

It was like a bullied white rabbit.

It carried a little of the strain of not being able to catch her breath.

It was Yukina.

Not the nauseating Yukina from a moment ago.

It was the Yukina she was most familiar with.

It was also the gentlest Yukina.

The hand clamped around Yukina’s neck was lightly covered by another small, warm hand.

The force was too light to be stopping her.

It was more like soothing her.

“Please… calm down… don’t do… something you can’t take back…”

The usual gentle expression returned to Yukina’s face.

Even in the pain of suffocation, it still carried a trace of tenderness.

Mashiro’s heart lurched.

Thump.

Foam surged.

As if rising from the deep sea to the surface, Mashiro snapped her eyes open and gasped for air.

“Hah… hah…”

Oxygen flooded into her chest.

Her heart beat thump-thump.

Cold sweat covered her forehead.

It ran down along her temples.

Where… is this?

She kept her eyes open.

Her unfocused pupils gradually gathered her vision.

She began to observe her surroundings.

The surroundings were very dark.

There was no blood.

There were no corpses.

There was only a streak of dark orange light leaking in through a hole in the roof.

It was sunset.

She was lying on the cushion.

Cold sweat clung to her back.

There was wind by her ears.

It was very light.

It blew in through the half-closed door.

It carried the coolness after the rain had stopped.

There was something in her palm.

It was warm.

It was soft.

It was very small.

She slowly turned her head.

She saw a cluster of soft pink-white hair.

“Hah…”

A shallow breath brushed across the tip of her nose.

Yukina was sleeping right beside her.

She was so small.

She was lying on her side.

Both hands loosely held Mashiro’s hand.

It was as if she were afraid Mashiro would be cold.

It was also as if she just habitually wanted to grab something.

A few strands of pink-white hair clung to her cheek.

They rose and fell slightly with her breathing.

She was sleeping very deeply.

Her breathing was light and steady.

She looked like a bird curled asleep on a branch after the rain.

Looking at that peaceful sleeping face, Mashiro’s breathing slowly evened out as well.

She slowly understood the present situation.

It had been a dream.

After the curse’s influence had disappeared, she had passed out.

She had had a bizarre dream.

Along the way, she had recalled some things she had already begun to forget.

…Takanashi Yukina.

Mashiro silently recited her name in her heart.

Her lashes trembled once.

Identical.

The Yukina before her eyes, the Yukina in the dream, and those Yukinas in her memory were completely identical.

It could not be a disguise.

Modern medicine should not yet have a way to restore a person’s face to this extent.

Even if it could, Yukina’s figure and build were quite rare.

It was not as if someone could shave down every bone in the body.

Then, could it be some special race that specialized in disguise?

Impossible.

Those shapeshifting species had no internal organs and no skeleton.

And she had already touched Yukina’s body.

Her waist was very thin.

Her abdomen was very soft.

Through that thin, tender belly, her finger pads could feel the existence of internal organs.

She had even unintentionally touched her delicate ribs and pubic bone.

Then who was she really?

She knew about the Family and the inheritance rights.

She was clearly someone from the Family.

But weren’t the people on the Family’s side all standing with her older sister?

Why would she risk her life to help me?

There were simply too many things that could not be explained.

You… who are you really?

Mashiro lifted her other hand.

Her fingertips very, very lightly touched the bangs on Yukina’s forehead.

She brushed a few loose pink-white strands aside.

The touch was very soft.

It carried a little sweat-dampness.

So cute.

Her features were completely the same as the Yukina in the dream.

But in other places, there were still some subtle differences.

The freckles were gone.

Besides that, perhaps because of hygiene and diet, the Yukina before her eyes also had no ugly acne on her face.

She no longer needed those cheap cosmetics to stain her skin.

Her complexion was rosy and delicate.

Up close, she looked like a delicious little cake.

She did not know why.

It was clearly the same Yukina.

She was merely sleeping quietly.

Yet she was so cute it felt as if Mashiro’s heart were melting.

If…

If the current Yukina were also like the Yukina in the dream, lying at her feet like a puppy, eyes full of tears, sobbing as she stuck out a little pink tongue tip…

Thump.

A scene flashed through her mind.

Mashiro’s heart beat once.

Her gaze slowly moved downward.

It moved to the exposed neck.

To the slowly rising and falling collarbones.

And to more places she had not yet carefully touched.

Some emotion that had only just been released began to pile up slowly inside her body once more.

“Nn…”

Just then, Yukina’s lashes trembled.

She drew in a shallow breath.

She let out a murmur that carried morning grouchiness.

After curling her body in a little, she slowly opened her eyes.