The Cursed Bride's Vengeance

Chapter 4

13th of Friday

Yui was preparing some breakfast for herself as her parents had gone out to a relative's house, leaving her behind on her own. Not that she didn't like being alone but sometimes she enjoyed the company of people around her. Hence, she had called Nagisa to come over to her house to spend some time with her.

In actual, Yui's real intention to invite Nagisa wasn't to hang around together as the latter thought, but to ask if she knew anything about the dark rituals that were practised by the Celts during the ancient times. It is an extinct form of ritual which is believed to bring power and fame to anybody who performed them. While Yui was, in reality, a greedy power-seeker who was ready to use anybody to get her desired things in possession.

Naturally, she was nothing more than using the group to fulfill her desires to get close to Nagisa in order to get those secrets out of her. Nagisa's father was a researcher who studied these forms of ceremonies, so it would be obvious that his daughter would know something about his researches.

Yui snickered. "Soon, everyone will learn to respect and worship me."

It was true in her case. Yui used to be bullied at school when she was young and this has left a huge impact on her mind. She got herself into Gothic books when one day she accidentally came across one in the public library. The stories of people becoming powerful after breaking forbidden taboos inspired her to become one of them...and Yui had already set up her mind on that.

Pouring some green tea in her cup, she took her breakfast to the table and munched on her french-toast, about to take a sip of her tea when she noticed a crack develop on the edge of the cup. A bad omen, Yui thought. She took her cup and drained the contents into the sink, sighing, and went to brew another cup of green tea for herself. As she opened the container of the tea leaves, she dropped it and backed away.

Three black centipedes crawled out of the container. Her breath was caught in her throat but she did not scream. In an instant, she ran to the storeroom and came back with a mask on her face and a bug spray in her hand, emptying the can over the wriggling centipedes which soon lay dead.

Yui unmasked her face and stared at the lifeless arthropods on the floor, wondering where they came from. She looked at the clock on the wall and realized that Nagisa would be arriving soon. She went up to her room to get changed. As she opened her drawer, this time she couldn't hold in her scream.

Her cupboard was infested with large moths which ate up most of her favourite clothes including her lingeries. Yui pulled out her clothes one by one and threw them on the carpeted floor. She took a lighter out, which she had hidden from her parents in order to prepare for a ritual that she was planning on carrying out in the near future, and threw it on top of the clothes.

Her dresses were ablaze. Yui watched in daze as her clothes burnt in the flames, and when she snapped out of this state she realized what she had done and quickly went to the bathroom to bring in a bucket of water, pouring it on the fire. She could not understand what had gotten into her. Why did she do that? It was like something...or someone...had taken over her senses. Before she could clean up the mess, the doorbell rang and Yui realized who it was. She tsked in annoyance and hid her burnt clothes under her bed.

Yui opened the door to a much excited Nagisa, who hugged her as soon as she entered.

"I missed you so much!"
"We met yesterday, Nagisa..." Yui rolled her eyes.

Keeping Nagisa's umbrella in the umbrella stand, Yui led her to her room. Upon entering, Nagisa was greeted with a foul burning smell and she turned to her host.

"Were you cooking in your room?"
"Not funny."
"Then what's with this smell? Don't tell me you were up to some dark magic arts again?"

Yui let out a sigh and ignored her questions as she made her way to her study-table and caressed her favourite brown notebook in her hands. It was not any ordinary notebook for it contained all the details of the spells and forbidden arts that Yui was able to gather from various books and, of course, Nagisa. She valued the notebook more than her life as it was the key to her goals. Bringing it with her, she sat across Nagisa and interrogated her on her father's recent researches.

"Argh, not again...You always start with this topic!" Nagisa said.
"Just bear with it for a while," Yui gave a straight answer.
"Someday, I might tear that book into pieces..."
"Don't even dare to think that," the bespectacled girl glared.

Sighing, the girl told her friend about her father's investigation on the Ancient Celtic dieties who were said to grant the wishes of people who offered sacrifices to them. Yui quickly jotted the information down in her notebook and after some time of discussion, she closed it and kept it at her side.

"Do you want something to eat?" Yui asked her guest.
"Yeah, sure!"
"Okay."

She got up and headed downstairs towards the kitchen. A while later, Nagisa felt the urge to use the restroom, so she got up and went out of the room. Unbeknownst to the two girls, a mysterious power had already started putting into action an evil plan which could ruin everything for them, as the notebook got lifted into the air from its place.