Facade

Protection

"Haru!?" Yui yelled in annoyance.
She was walking through the dark school, feeling pretty pissed she had to do this. Though, she was a little late for the meeting because she got stuck in a crowd of people. She heard weeping from a corner of the hall.

"Haru?" She recognized him immediately.

He was curled up in a crouching position.

"Y-Yui?" He stood up happily.

He hugged her tightly. Yui stood frozen. What's wrong with him?

"What's wrong?"Yui asked softly.

"They're after me, Yui!" He pulled away, looking terrified.

"Who's after you?"

Haru didn't speak. He fell on the floor. He started kicking and pulling himself on the wall. Haru cried and shook.

"The kids! Don't you see them?!" He screamed in panic.

"Haru, calm down! What are you talking about?" She asked in worry.

"Little boys like playing with fire!" He started to laugh uncontrollably.

Yui backed away a bit, not knowing what to do. She switched her terrified expression with a confident one. She hugged him again.

"Please tell me what's going on..." She whispered.

He stopped shaking. He hugged her back tightly.

"I... I did something... I wasn't supposed to do..." Haru said weakly.

"What did you do?" She asked calmly.

"I... I ran away. I ran away from the orphanage." He barely said.

Yui decided not to ask many questions. She let him talk.

"And... They kidnapped me. I was looking for adventure. I just wanted to do something fun. I brought my friends too." He was now more calm than usual.

Yui was trying to connect the dots. Is he talking about when he was a kid? Or is he just saying nonsense?

"A man came out of a car and kidnapped us. I got them kidnapped. It's all my fault!" He started to shake again.

Yui tried to hold him still, but then he pushed her off.

"I got them killed and now they're following me! They want to get revenge! I got them to light the fire! I... I..." He looked down and grinned.

"So I... I need to protect you... And I should protect Mitsuki too..." He looked at Yui from the corner of his eyes.

His grin grew. Yui stiffened.

"That's right. You need to be protected from those lousy uncontrolled demons." He started to approach her.

Yui wanted to run away, but as always, she panicked.

"Saito will hurt every one of you. This... This isn't a curse anymore. The bite let me see the danger of other demons!" He yelled happily and clenched his head.

He laughed so much. He felt like he finally got it. Yui meanwhile, figured everything out.

"So... So I have to kill him." He went serious.

"You'll help me, right, rabbit?" He smiled at her.

Even though that was his normal sweet smile, she knew it was deceiving.

"Haru, you're not yourself!" Yui tried to reason.

Haru's smile faded. He looked her dead in the eyes.

"You're not on my side either?" He looked angry and furious.

The moment Yui tried to run he roughly caught her by the waist. He carried her to the janitors closet, despite her constant screaming and kicking. He threw her inside and took her phone. He smashed it and locked the door.

Yui looked around and saw a very frightened Mitsuki in the corner. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying and her dark skin was very pale.

"Mitsuki?!" Yui ran to her.

"Yui! He... He murdered Toshiki!" Mitsuki said and started to cry even more than she was.

"He what?" Yui asked in disbelief.

She heard him dialing up a number from the other side of the door.

"Hi." Haru said happily to the phone.

"Where the fuck is Yui!? Did you do something to her!?" Saito yelled at the phone.

Yui recognized his voice. She and Mitsuki immediately started screaming for help.

"I wonder... Maybe if she was on my fucking side..." Haru said and slammed the door, as if to signalize them to shut up.

He heard beeping from the phone.

"I guess he hung up." Haru said nonchalantly.

"Haru, please stop whatever it is you're trying to do!" Yui said helplessly.

"I'm saving the two of you. How do you not get that?" He asked.

Yui heard sadness in his voice. She knew what was going on.

"Haru..." Yui tried again.

"Can't you hear their voices?" Haru asked weakly.

Yui kept quiet.

"I can only hear their screams. I know they're chasing me." He said tiredly.

"I have to run away now. They can't do anything to you two, so I'll just run!" She heard his loud steps fade away.

After a couple of minutes Saito ran to school too. This was one of the most tiring and fastest runs he ever done, but he had to get this done.

As he looked around the school, he heard noises from the bathroom. Saito decided to check it quietly.

He saw Haru looking at the mirror. He was quiet the whole time. Nothing could be heard.

Then he just suddenly smashed the mirror.

"Why can't you just leave me the fuck alone!?" He yelled and pulled back his arm.

Haru looked awful. His usually styled emo hair now looked like it was missing a lot of locks from forcefully pulling them out. There were a few dark green streaks going from his roots. His usually very dark and tanned skin was deathly pale and he had huge bags under his eyes. He was clutching his now bloodied hand. Haru didn't know what else to do than to let the water flow and soak his hand into it.

Saito just stared in surprise. He looked at him with weird pity in his eyes. What happened to him?

"Are you okay?" Saito asked, feeling as if though violence wasn't the answer right now.

Haru's head snapped right at Saito. His eyes had pure paranoia and fear in them.

"I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed very loudly.

His voice echoed through the entire school. He panted after that but soon he calmed down.

"Oh. It's just you..." He mumbled, looking a bit relieved.

As soon as he said that his eyes widened. He tried to hide his hand behind his back, but Saito already noticed.

A bite mark.

"You... You got bitten?" Saito mustered out.

That would explain everything. The paranoia, aggressiveness, moodiness and fear... Those were all the signs of a person turning into a demon.

Haru was turning into one and it didn't look like it will take long to turn into one.