Chapter 47: Answering

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“Ugh… I should get out soon.”

The world before her eyes spun.

Yukina seemed to have soaked too long.

Her head had gone all fuzzy.

She stood up from the bathtub.

Her whole body felt heavy.

Large water droplets slid down her skin.

They knocked ripples across the surface of the tub.

She steadied herself against the wall for a good while.

Only then did she slowly step out of the tub.

Her feet landed on the anti-slip mat.

She pulled over the large white towel hanging to the side and wrapped it around her dripping body.

The towel was fluffy.

It carried a faint scent of fabric softener.

Using it to wipe her body felt very comfortable.

Yukina pinched up a corner and sniffed it.

She stepped over to the mirror.

She found that the glass had already been smeared into a sheet by the mist.

She could not see anything clearly.

She reached out and wiped the mirror.

She wiped out a clean oval.

A face floated up from inside it.

The person in the mirror looked at her.

Under the coverage of the thick towel, pink-white hair clung wetly to the sides of her little face.

Water droplets slid down along her chin.

Her skin, steamed by the hot water, showed a layer of faint pink.

Tiny water droplets hung from her lashes.

The corners of her eyes carried moisture.

They looked a little brighter than usual.

Her lips had also become redder.

Yukina stared at the mirror for a few seconds.

She slowly tilted her head.

The person in the mirror tilted her head too.

It seems… something is different.

A little uncertain, she reached out.

She lightly touched her own cheek.

It was not an illusion.

The feel that came from her fingertips was indeed different.

Finer.

Smoother.

It was like touching a piece of soft jade moistened by water.

Her features also seemed a little clearer than before.

“Did I… get prettier?”

Yukina rubbed her own cheeks.

She was a little dazed.

Her usual face was always covered by her bangs.

She rarely lifted them to carefully observe her own looks.

She only remembered that it was a very ordinary face.

The kind you forgot the moment you looked away.

But now, nn… it was hard to judge.

It was probably that she had leveled up from a “Small Fry character” you could see anywhere to an “ordinary supporting character” that an artist had actually taken seriously.

Why had it become like this?

Maybe it was just because she had just finished bathing.

Her skin had soaked up water, so it only looked finer.

Yukina did not have much demand for her own looks.

Ordinary was fine.

If she became the kind of existence Mashiro was, drawing eyes wherever she went, she would instead feel a little afraid.

Better hide it.

She lifted her hand.

She brushed her bangs.

She covered her forehead and half an eye again.

Only when the person in the mirror had returned to that inconspicuous Small Fry-chan did she slowly let out a breath.

Mm. This is much more reassuring.

The hair dryer hummed.

The wind blowing from the dryer dried the moisture inside her soft hair.

At the same time it blew away the stuffy white mist in the bathroom.

When it was about done, she turned off the dryer and changed into her pajamas.

It was that very old cotton pajama set.

The cuffs ran long by a section.

They could just cover half her palms like cat paws.

The shorts were old too.

They were loose.

They always loved to slip down.

But they were very comfortable to wear.

She shuffled out of the bathroom in slippers.

Night wind flowed in through the half-open living room window.

It brushed against skin that had just finished soaking.

It was cool.

It felt so good she squinted her eyes.

“Hah. I’m alive again.”

Yukina waved her sleeves up and down.

She felt as if the invisible HP bar above her head had jumped up a huge chunk.

Tonight would probably be the same as usual.

Only she and Huahua would be home.

Her sister would work overtime until late at night, or even until dawn before she could come back.

“The night is still long… what should I do?”

She lifted her head.

She glanced at the wall clock.

The hour hand had just passed 8:00.

It was still too early to sleep now.

Besides, she had slept so long in the tin shack this afternoon.

She did not have the slightest sleepiness now.

Watch TV? No. Too noisy. She did not want to watch.

Do homework? No. She did not even know what homework there was tonight. She had skipped too much class.

Start physical training? No either. She had just finished bathing. She did not want to sweat.

She thought of many things.

But she vetoed them one by one herself.

In the end she decided to do nothing first and curl up on the sofa for a while.

Bzz—bzz—bzz—

The moment she got close to the sofa, a very light vibration reached her ears.

Something was ringing.

“…Over here?”

Yukina followed the direction of the sound.

She found that in the crack of the sofa, there was light flashing.

It was her phone.

She did not know when it had fallen in.

She had not noticed at all.

“Ah… why is it so deep?”

She knelt with both knees on either side of the sofa cushion.

She reached her hand into the crack and groped.

Her fingertips barely touched the icy metal frame.

She hooked it several times.

Only then did her short fingers finally push the phone out little by little.

The screen was still lit.

When she saw the lock screen packed densely with the notification bar, Yukina faintly felt uneasy.

Missed calls.

Thirty-seven of them.

All displayed “Sister Yuna.”

The earliest one had been not long after she had entered the bathroom.

In other words, during the whole time she had been leisurely soaking, her sister had been calling her.

Sister never does this. No matter how urgent something is, she would never make this many calls in one go, unless… something really unexpected happened.

The unease in her heart grew stronger.

She swiped her finger and unlocked the screen.

Just as she was about to call her sister back, she saw an unread message lying in the message bar.

It was also from her sister.

She tapped it open lightly.

“Yukina, before Sister gets home, hide quickly. Do not come out no matter what!”

It was very short.

No stickers.

No emoticons.

It was completely different from her sister’s usual spoiled, coaxing tone.

“Hide… what does that mean?”

Yukina instinctively curled her legs.

Her breathing suddenly grew rapid.

What on earth had happened?

Were the debt collectors coming to the door to collect?

Or was it something else, something even more terrifying.

Her gaze left the screen.

She lifted her head.

She looked at the living room shrouded in night.

She looked at the pitch-black window.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up one by one.

For a split second, she felt as if something behind her were watching her.

But when she turned her head to look, there was only the pitch-dark living room.

And that dim little light in the kitchen.

Calm down, calm down… don’t scare yourself.

Yukina closed her eyes.

She tried to take several deep breaths.

She stretched out fingers that were still trembling and dialed her sister’s number.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

No one answered.

She dialed again.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Still no one answered.

“Why is she not picking up at this exact time…”

Her fingers unconsciously twisted the cuffs of her pajamas.

Her heart went half cold.

Just then, she suddenly remembered the words Mashiro had said when they parted:

“Leave your sister’s matter to me.”

Did that mean Mashiro had done something?

But what exactly had she done, to make her sister this frantic.

The more Yukina thought, the more chaotic it became.

Just as her finger rested on the send key, about to place a third call.

Scrape.

From the direction of the entryway, a sound came.

It was the sound of metal scraping in the keyhole.

It was very impatient.

It was like some terrifying creature clawing hard at the door from the other side.

The doorknob was turned hard twice.

It let out a fragmented, violent noise.

Someone was opening the door.

Yukina’s whole body went stiff.

She knew she should listen to her sister now and hide quickly.

But her legs had already gone soft from fright.

She could not muster any strength at all.

She could only curl up in the corner of the sofa.

She stared toward the entryway.

Both hands covered her mouth.

Even her breathing stopped.

Click.

The sound of the lock reached her ears.

The door was opened.