The Yandere

Chapter 2: Aftermath

Luckily for us, the electricity was still working for the small village. We had the radio plugged in and was earnestly gathered around it, waiting for any news to come in. The radio crackled suddenly and a speaker started rattling on about each city being hazardous to us.

"Hokkaido is severely dangerous. Rated a nine out of ten catastrophe. Leave immediately if you are able to."

I looked down at my hands that were neatly folded in my lap.

"There's not a lot of people around here so we can maintain our wall and gate without any dangers." Akio stated sternly, looking out the window at the gardens.

"We have fruit and vegetables growing in the back garden." Added in Ryo thoughtfully.

Kaito just stayed silent but had a serious expression on his face. He was standing by the doorway now with his arms crossed at his muscled chest.

"M-my friends and family..." I shivered at my next words. "They're all probably dead."

Everyone looked at me pitifully. Then Akio walked over and put an arm around my shoulder.

"We all have losses to deal with Haruka. You will learn to live with them someday."

I'll admit, his words stabbed me straight through the heart. I couldn't get it through my mind that everyone I'd ever known was now possibly dead or... One of those things. I'm sure they'd rather be dead than end up with a fate like that.

"This is depressing. I'm outta here." Kaito gave us all a final glance before heading out of the room.

"I have things to do." Said Ryo as he also left.

"Well, I'd better go get dinner sorted."

That just left me. I stood in the middle of the room, still looking at the old radio in hopes it would come out with some good news. After a minute or two I decided to go see what Akio was up to.

I wandered around until I finally found him in the garden. He'd been gathering some food that they'd grown outside. He sighed tiredly and lifted the basket off the ground.

"Ah, Haruka." He noticed me watching from the gate. "Could you open that door for me please?"

I nodded and held the door open as he carried the basket through to the kitchen. I followed him inside and he placed it by the kitchen sink.

"Can I do anything?" I asked timidly.

Akio waved for me to come closer so I did.

"We need to clean the food as it's been grown in the garden." He explained, taking a carrot and showing me what to do.

I copied his movement and started on more. I wanted to help at the household as I was staying for a while and felt rude otherwise.

After a while, we'd finished up and Akio thanked me for the help. He told me I could go have a wander around the mansion as it was definitely safe.

I left him and walked outside, quietly shutting the door behind me. The back garden was also decorated as beautifully as the front. It had a little pond with a bench at the side of it that had small garden lights placed on a wall.

I knelt on the grass and waved a stick around in the clear water, watching the way it slowly swirled around in a pattern.

Then I sighed and laid down next to the pond, listening to the gentle trickling sound of the water as it fell from the expensive looking fountain. It calmed me and I closed my eyes, ignoring the cold. For a while, I just stayed there motionlessly. I felt normal, like everything was okay again.

A thought crossed my mind suddenly. If I was dead, would it be this peaceful? Would I be able to just stay in one place, finally feeling no emotions or regrets?

Some laughter from the kitchen distracted me from the moments of bliss I had.

I looked through the kitchen window to see Akio put some bubbles from the washing up liquid on Kaito's hair. His laughter rang out in the silence and made me smile knowing that happiness could still exist in this cruel world.

Kaito stood by the sink unhappily, his expression pulled into a grumpy frown as Akio placed a towel on his hair. He looked out the window and saw me. One moment we made eye contact. His cold grey eyes bore into mine before he looked away. He grumbled something to Akio and walked off.

I blushed awkwardly and looked back at the inviting pond before getting up and going inside.

"Ah, Haruka. Dinner's almost ready, mind getting Ryo for me?" Akio was just getting out the plates and cutlery so I nodded.

I got the feeling Ryo was in his room so I headed upstairs and looked around before I found it.

"Ryo," I knocked the door quietly before entering.

His room was painted a cream colour and most of his furniture was placed neatly at the sides of the room with just a big chocolate rug covering the floor.

He came out of his walk-in closet and looked at me. His gaze made me feel a little intimidated and I shuffled back a little before talking again.

"Akio told me to come say that dinner is almost ready... What were you doing in there, if it's okay to ask."

"It is not." He murmured bluntly and strolled past me. "Come on then, Haruka-san."

We walked together, not saying a word. I didn't realise that Kaito was right behind us and had heard the earlier conversation.

"Kaito, I noticed you earlier by the way." Stated Ryo.

"I meant for you to." Kaito replied. "You weren't very polite to Haruka."

"Neither are you."

"I haven't spoken to her yet, so how can I?"

"Point proven." Ryo finished, turning into the kitchen.

"Everyone go sit at the table, I'll bring in the food." Akio ushered us into the dining room and returned to the finished dinner.

I sat down at the end and looked down when Kaito quietly sat next to me. Ryo was seated across from us but seemed to be having a stare off with Kaito, who held no emotion on his handsome face.

"There you go. Enjoy everyone!" Announced Akio, placing down plates of food for us all.

My plate contained mashed potato with carrots. I noticed the others had the same.

"We need to conserve food for now. We don't know how long this could last and I don't want to run out of food at any point so sorry for not cooking a bunch."

"It's fine, we can't waste food. This is really good anyway Akio." I told him, happily eating my mash. It was excellently made.

"Thanks," he smiled proudly, digging into his own meal.

Five minutes later, Kaito had already finished. Abruptly he stood up and carried his plate out to the kitchen.

"Finished." He said.

Akio and I stared as he walked out the room but he then looked back at his food as though nothing happened.

"Same old Kaito..." Muttered Ryo, not looking at us.