"𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧? 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬, 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐠𝐠𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬."
You and Ryuusuke walked home together under the sky train station. You kept glancing at Ryuusuke as he walked mindlessly, kept thinking to himself.
"𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐬."
"I got a message from Yumi!" You both turned around, seeing two girls talking to each other. "She said she found the boy at the Nishihatamachi intersection! She said it's almost for sure him."
"Really?!" her friend gasped.
"If we don't hurry, he'll disappear somewhere!" They turned around before they noticed you with Ryuusuke. You startled slightly as they approached you all of a sudden. "Hey, are you coming with us to see the Crossroads boy?!"
"U-uh um..." You stuttered as you were clueless while looking at Ryuusuke. But as you were about to say anything, the one who has two braids grabbed your hand and pulled you with them roughly. "Wait, Aaah!" You screamed as you got dragged to the crossroads.
Ryuusuke was also shocked by their action. "Hey! girls! It's dangerous! You shouldn't go!" He saw you disappear behind the mist along with two girls. He frowned in worry as he decided to follow you.
"I have to go after them."
He began to sprint at high speed as he tried to catch up with you. "I did hear that a bunch of people has been running around trying to get a glimpse of him. People are committing suicide, though. What are they even thinking? Don't they know how dangerous contact with him is? And also, they dragged (Y/N) with them, which puts her in danger!"
He stopped on his track as he was confused about the roads. "I lost them and (Y/N). Where's the intersection in Nishihatamachi? Dammit. If only I had a map." He then walked around and searched for you, suddenly, a hand grabbed his wrist, and he turned to see the same woman he met before. "Oh! It's you..."
The woman stared at him before she began to say. "You... you were here before, right? So I'm doing a crossroads fortune... listen to me."
"Um. I'm sorry. I'm in a hurry right now!" Ryuusuke politely explained that you might be in danger somewhere.
"I won't take much of your time."
He felt the grip on his wrist tighter than earlier. "But..."
"Listen. I had a miscarriage. I'm not sure what kind of memorial I should have for the baby."
"Then maybe you should talk to the temple?" He suggested as the woman approached him closer.
"Oh... you're right. I did something inexcusable to my baby. I killed my baby. I'm no good as a mother. Maybe my baby forgives me...? What do you think?"
"I'm sure... your baby forgives you. Um. I really am in a hurry. Please let go."
He then tried to pry her hand off as she kept talking. "I wonder? You can't know that for sure. My baby might be on the other side hating me. Why do you think she forgives me? What proof do you have? It's just... a mother is everything to a baby."
"I'm sure your baby forgives you." He successfully pried her hand off him as he kept silent.
"I wonder... even a terrible mother like me?" Suddenly, she cried out and kneeled down on the ground. "What am I going to do? How can I live?! What if she hates me?! AAAAAAH! I DON'T KNOW! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!"
Ryuusuke watched her for a minute before he turned and walked away from her. "She really is weird... I better go look for (Y/N) now." His phone suddenly vibrated from his pants, he picked it up and saw it was from you. "(Y/N)? Where are you?!"
"I'm lost! The girls that dragged me left me in the middle of nowhere and they both were gone! I don't know how to go back."
"But have you met the crossroads boy?" He asked as he noticed the fog was still existing. "No. He doesn't say anything either."
"It's okay, (Y/N). I'll go get you." He hung up and then went back to his house to pick up a map so he could go look for you easier and hunt the crossroads boy at the same time.
"𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐈 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐛 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭. 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 (𝐘/𝐍) 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢."
You waved goodbye to him as you parted ways to go home. Ryuusuke closed the door tiredly as he mumbled quietly. "I'm home."
"Ryuusuke, why are you so late?" Mrs. Fukada said.
"(Y/N) was lost, so I went to get her." He replied.
"That's nice of you, my son. Oh! Another thing, you have a guest. I showed her up to your room."
"Who could it be?" He walked upstairs to his room as he slid the door, he was completely shocked as it was the same woman from before. "How did you know where I...?"
"I followed you." She answered.
"R-Right. When I came to get the map."
"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟."
"Aaah, what am I going to do? Aah, I just don't know." The woman kept mumbling and Ryuusuke could only listen to that mumble.
"𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭."
He watched her leave through the window as he felt a slight relief. "She's not actually... going to come back tomorrow, is she?"
.
.
.
"𝐁𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐨. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧... 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐛 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦."
As Ryuusuke didn't let the woman enter his house, she climbed up to his bedroom instead.
"Good evening." She then crawled to Ryuusuke as she began to mumble.
"𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫... 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐲 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐢'𝐬 𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭."
"Ryuusuke? Listen... I don't know what to do. He said he wants to break up with me... out of the blue, today... I... what should I do? Tell me..."
Ryuusuke looked at her hand on his forearm as he replied to her. "At any rate, he has a wife and kids. Maybe you could take this chance to leave?"
"NO! NO!! I'D RATHER DIE THAN BREAK UP WITH HIM! He said he loved me more than anyone! But apparently, he does love his wife and children. I hate this. What do you think I should do?"
"What you should do? There's nothing you can do, is there?" Ryuusuke's answer disappointed her entirely.
"You're saying there's no hope?! You're so heartless!"
"Maybe I'm heartless, but you're not getting anywhere agonizing over this. And I don't know why you're always moping around anyway! You were probably thinking about this all day, weren't you? Can't you do something else to clean your mind?"
"W-What? You're just a child. How dare you!" They were both silent for a moment before she made up her mind. "All right. Fine. I won't discuss it with you anymore. With a mere child!"
He then watched her climb out of the window as he sighed in relief. "Phew! What a ride..."
.
.
.
"𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭..."
"Good evening."
Ryuusuke gasped as he saw the woman come back again after saying that she wouldn't come back again. "W-What?! You said you wouldn't come anymore, though?!"
The woman quickly approached him as she had sweat dropped on her face. "Aaah, Ryuusuke. What should I do? I don't know what to do..."
"What is it this time?" He said.
"I... His son... I killed him."
Ryuusuke was slightly disbelieving at her words as he asked her, stuttering. "W-What? You're kidding."
"I wouldn't joke about this!" The woman shouted as she began to tell him everything. "I kidnapped him from kindergarten and strangled him to death this morning. I mean... with him out of the way, maybe my boyfriend and I can work things out?"
Her hand went to her face in fear and panic. "I hid the body somewhere no one will find it. But... Aaah... this... Now I'm an actual murderer. What am I going to do? What if the police find out?"
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝟐 𝐚.𝐦. 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭."
After that, the woman went back home and Ryuusuke kept thinking about her. "Did she really kill that kid? Is she going to come again tomorrow? What am I supposed to do here?"
.
.
.
"𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭..."
The sound of the window knocking loudly as the woman came to his room again. "Aaah, what am I going to do? Ryuusukee, what should I do?" Ryuusuke kept silent as he listened to the woman muttering. "Hey, Ryuusuke, I'm thinking of getting a tattoo. But those hurt, right? And what would he think? What do you think?"
She pointed the spot at her arm, "I want to get 'Koichiro for life' here in big characters. Koichiro's his name. I want to show on my body just how much I care for him. So, What do you think, Hm?"
Ryuusuke froze as he didn't answer her anything.
.
.
.
"What the hell is this? Is she a murderer?! Is she just messing with me?" Ryuusuke thought on his way to hunting the crossroads boy. "I can't keep doing this... Any sympathy I felt is gone."
"Ryuusuke! Wait up!" He turned around to see you running to him. You took a breather for a second before you said to him. "I told you, didn't I? That I'll come with you. I will not let you go by yourself again. Also, I have something to ask you."
"What is it?"
"Do you know people in the class are calling you "Deadman"?"
Ryuusuke frowned one brow as he didn't know about it. "Dead man?"
"Yeah. Cuz you never say anything and look like you're dead." You crossed your arms as you sighed in disappointment.
"Oh, I get it. Deadman, huh..."
"And they also noticed me talking to myself more often. So they call me a weirdo."
Ryuusuke turned to you as he didn't know about that either. "What do you mean? That means that Crossroads boy talked to you again?"
"He keeps bothering me. He even talked about you bringing the weird woman we met to your house." Ryuusuke's eyes widened in shock, you turned to him as you asked him a question. "Is that true, Ryuusuke?"
You both stopped walking as he turned away from you before answering with a timid voice. "Yes..."
Your eyes widened slightly before you said with half-lidded eyes, "Thank you for telling me that. The crossroads boy told me about you, but I didn't trust him so I wanted to ask you first."
You looked at the alleyway on your left before you turned back to him. "I have to do something important. See you tomorrow." You waved a little to him before you walked away from him.
Ryuusuke watched you as he felt guilty for not telling you about it. He didn't want to make you worried about that and he didn't want you to meet and deal with this crazy woman.
.
.
.
~Meanwhile~
You looked back at where you parted ways with Ryuusuke, you sighed as you wandered around, not feeling good for returning home yet. All you could think about was how Ryuusuke was helping that crazy woman and he kept it from you. Suddenly, the fog around you appeared with the voice of the person you didn't want to see be heard.
"𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹~ 𝗜𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱."
"Well, you were right. I was wrong." You said with a sigh. "But it doesn't mean that I can trust you with everything. You're so good at fooling girls."
"𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂."
You grunted with a pouting face. "Don't you have anything else to do? Actually, why were you still clingy to me anyway?"
"𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱?"
You stopped on your track as his word struck you. You looked around you as you couldn't find any person nearby, you then asked him again. "What do you mean?"
"𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣."
You frowned untrustful, as you thought inside your head of what he would want from you and you didn't want him to take advantage of you. "What do you want from me?"
"𝗜'𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿?"
You didn't want to be taken advantage of that but if it would help Ryuusuke, you would do it for him.
"Okay. What do I have to do?"
The crossroads boy has a wide grin settled on his lips, you then heard him chuckle with his deep voice which made your hair stand on end. You heard the sound of footsteps walking in the alley you were in. Your eyes widened as the pretty boy appeared in front of you. You watched him approach you closer until you were an inch away from him. Your hair stood to an end as you felt his presence in front of you. You slowly looked up to meet his face again after the incident two months ago.
He was still having the same looks as before, nothing changed at all.
So deadly and ghostly handsome.
He moved his right hand from his pocket and offered it to you, you looked at his hand unexpectedly and shockingly.
"𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲."
You had so many thoughts in your head, whether you should take it or not. Your right hand went to his shakily as you pulled back a bit, but then you sighed and frowned with determination and placed it on his hand.
The Crossroads Boy smirked as your hand was placed on his, it was so warm compared to his cold skin.
"𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀."
You did what he told you, and you then felt his lips on the back of your hand before the sound of the mist swoosh loudly. You soon find yourself in an unfamiliar place.
You looked around the place as the mist still existed around the area. "Where are you bringing me to-- Ah?" You gasped as you didn't find the Crossroads boy beside you anymore. But he has walked ahead and disappeared into the alleyway. You followed him as you turned to the corner, he had disappeared along with the fog.
You frowned at his action, you then continued walking until you noticed something on the grass in the flood plains. You slowly went down the hill before your eyes widened widely in shock and screamed loudly with terror.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"