~At Ryuusuke's house~
After he went home, he had dinner with his parents but he was still thinking of how to apologize to you later. "Ryuusuke, you've lost a lot of weight again. You have to actually eat." Mrs. Fukada said after she noticed her son's sickly appearance.
"That's right. You've been a gloomy gus ever since we moved here." Mr. Fukada also commented with worry. "They're not picking on you at school, are they?"
"No!" He responded.
"Or do you have a problem with (Y/N)?" Mrs. Fukada added. He went silent for a moment which made her assume it was true. "She is the understandable girl. You can talk things out, Ryuusuke."
Ryuusuke nodded before the news reporter said on TV.
"𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢. 𝙰𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚘𝚘𝚗, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚐𝚑 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙽𝚊𝚣𝚞𝚖𝚒 𝚌𝚒𝚝𝚢."
"Goodness. That's not far from here." Mrs. Fukada mumbled as they watched the news. They were all shocked as you appeared on the television, answering the questions from the police with a terrifying expression.
"How did (Y/N) find the corpse?" Mr. Fukada questioned, Ryuusuke couldn't believe that it was time after you parted ways with him.
"𝙰𝚌𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚟𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚐𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚟𝚎-𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛-𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚊𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚘, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝙺𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚘 𝚃𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚍𝚊. 𝚂𝚒𝚐𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚔, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚎..."
Ryuusuke's body shook violently as he felt familiar with the name. Mr. Fukada noticed his son's body shaking as he asked him. "What's the matter, Ryuusuke? Shaking like that... Are you cold?"
"IT'S HER! THAT WOMAN'S THE MURDERER!"
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"𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐲. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦."
You walked back home with Ryuusuke and Midori as Midori was the one who talked most of the time. "I had no idea she was clinging to you like that, Ryuusuke. So there really was something off about her."
You looked between her and Ryuusuke as if you were absent-minded, thinking to yourself. "You're too nice. I mean, talking to her about each and every little thing... You can't go letting people like that into your house. Got it?" She noticed Ryuusuke kept silent, she then turned to talk to you instead. "And (Y/N), I wonder how you found the child's corpse anyway? You're so good at finding it."
"Actually, I didn't find the corpse by myself." Ryuusuke and Midori frowned as they turned sharply to you. "It was the crossroads boy led me to."
They were both shocked fully by what you said. "What? Why would he do that for?"
"I don't know..." You mumbled as you kept quiet after that.
Midori looked at you both as she sighed in disappointment. "Ryuusuke, you were so nice to her, but you're so cold to me. And (Y/N), you kept yourself away from me. Why? Do you guys hate me that much?"
You frowned as you turned sharply to her. "It's not like that. It's very complicated." You walked to the alleyway before you three noticed the person at the crossroads. "A crossroads fortune seeker. I guess you'll give her advice?"
"Yeah." Ryuusuke replied to her as he approached them. "Hey, over there! Crossroads fortune are dangerous. What will you do if you run into the beautiful boy at the crossroads?"He then went silent abruptly as the person in front of him was the woman with all tattoos over her body.
"What's wrong, Ryu--?" You asked before you and Midori shrieked loudly of that.
"Oh, my! If it isn't Ryuusuke. And Midori. And you..." She lifted her finger and pointed at you, you noticed her eyes had veins when she talked to you. "You're the girl who found my lover's child."
"Ah."
"You're..." said Ryuusuke.
"Is she a...?" you said.
Suddenly, she spoke up loudly which startled you slightly. "Hey? What am I going to do? I'm in trouble. I got a full-body tattoo!" She caressed her arm smoothly as she told you three. "I thought it was weird... I asked for a little tattoo on my arm, and they made me keep coming in for a month. Before I knew it, I looked like this. AAAH! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? I CAN'T LET HIM SEE ME LIKE THIS! AAAH! I DON'T KNOW! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!"
You frowned and glared at her crying out, Ryuusuke then spoke up. "Hang on a second. You..." He lifted his finger and pointed at her. "I can't help but think... You're deliberately doing things to make your life worse! You create all these problems yourself! Right?! Why wouldn't you stop going to the tattoo place before you ended up like this?! You had to have noticed at some point."
"AAAH! IT'S TRUE! YOU'RE RIGHT! IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF THAT HANDSOME BOY!"
Your eyes widened as she mentioned him. "What?! You met him?!" You exclaimed with shock, she looked at you as she began to calm down and tell you three.
"I did. Ever since... I've been a total mess. It was three months ago. I was worried about the affair, so I did a crossroads fortune. And a boy all in black came along. Aah, he was so beautiful. He told me that my problem wasn't worth his time and that I needed a more serious problem. so I should go find it."
Your mind went back to the day before, the day he led you to the corpse. "So he's doing this for me because he already knew it." You thought before you snapped out of it because the woman started to tell again.
"At first, I didn't understand what he meant. But eventually, I interpreted it to mean that if I wanted to get past my current problem, I should find something more serious to worry about. If I had a more serious problem, then my current issue would be trivial. So I got pregnant with my lover's child. And so I had a more serious problem. Aah... But I had a terrible realization. I wouldn't be able to find a way out of this without giving myself an even bigger problem."
You frowned as you sighed with total despair at this woman. "It steadily escalated... but I couldn't do anything. I mean, he told me to get a more serious problem." She grinned as she sat up from the ground. "Th-- That's it. That's it! Ha ha ha... I just have to get myself into more trouble than this." She slowly stood up as she waved goodbye to you three. "Okay then. Goodbye. Hee, hee, hee!"
She walked a few steps before she turned abruptly and pointed at you with a glare. "And you!" You flinched at her outburst, and Ryuusuke went in front to protect you. "Thanks for giving me a more serious problem. I'll be sure to remember that!" The woman giggled as she disappeared into the fog.
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"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐠. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐕 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬, 𝐈 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐠𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. 𝐖𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧."
Ryuusuke sat on the chair as his mind was thinking of the previous event. "Still, it was the boy at the crossroads who made her like that. Who is he?" Suddenly, he heard a knocking sound from the window. He timidly went to open the window but didn't find anything.
"Was I hearing things?" He thought, but before he was about to close the curtain, he noticed someone walking past his house, he squinted his eyes as he saw it was you. He went downstairs quickly but carefully so as to not wake his parents up. He opened the door and sprinted to you, grabbing your arm which startled you fully.
"Wha- Ryuusuke?" You mumbled.
"(Y/N), What are you doing here at night? You should go home right now." He asked worriedly, he then realized that he was grabbing your arm as he let go of it.
"I felt uneasy since earlier, so I want to take a breath outside."
Ryuusuke noticed your saddened expression as you had a gloomy face like him. "Are you okay? You can tell me everything, you know."
You looked at him with your mouth shut as you hugged yourself to keep yourself warm. "The reason why he helped me, it's because I asked him to help you. I accepted his offer but I can't stop thinking about what he would want from me."
Ryuusuke kept silent as you both were on the way to your house. "(Y/N), you did this for me?" You nodded without turning to him. He kept staring at you as his mind went back to the day when he received the letter from your mother when he moved out of Nazumi City.
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~Flashback~
Ryuusuke happily went to the mailbox as he had waited for the letter from you 2 days ago. He grabbed the mail out of the box and hurriedly went back to his room. He then tore the paper out before he picked the letter out and noticed that it wasn't your handwriting.
𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗥𝘆𝘂𝘂𝘀𝘂𝗸𝗲
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 (𝗬/𝗡)'𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿, (𝗟/𝗡) (𝗠/𝗡), 𝗜 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 (𝗬/𝗡) 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗹𝘂 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗺𝘆 𝗵𝘂𝘀𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁, 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗼 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿.
𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲, 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁. 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆. 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗺.
𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗴𝗶𝗿𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗜'𝗺 𝘀𝗼 𝗮𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁, 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗱𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀' 𝘀𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁.
𝗥𝘆𝘂𝘂𝘀𝘂𝗸𝗲, 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀, 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 (𝗬/𝗡) 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗵𝘂𝘀𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿. 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿.
𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆,
(𝗠/𝗡) (𝗟/𝗡)
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~Back to the present~
Ryuusuke stared at you for a while before he took a deep breath, pulled you to his chest, and wrapped his arms around your shoulders. "Wha- What are you doing, Ryuusuke?" You gasped at his sudden action as you tried to get off him, but instead, he tightened his arms even more.
"I'm so grateful that you did that for me, but sometimes, I can't help but think that I should do something for you in return too." You glanced at him as you kept listening. "Also, you need a hug from me."
You chuckled as you laid your hands on his back, hugging him back. "Thank you, Ryuusuke."
"No... Thank you, (Y/N)."
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【Ｔｈｅ Ｗｏｍａｎ ｉｎ Ｄｉｓｔｒｅｓｓ／ＥＮＤ】