Liars and How To Find Them

XVII : Take Two

    Things went... Well, they went, for the past few weeks. That's the only way you could describe it.

    You started attending to private sessions with a psychiatrist twice a week to cope with the traumatism the Clowns gave you. According to the professional, you had gotten away with the bare minimum of it, which you were immensely grateful for. You still woke up in the middle of the night panting and sweating because of nightmares that felt way too real, but you were able to deal with them, somehow.

    You had also moved away from your current apartment, which had given you anxiety every time you were in it alone. You kept worriedly glancing out the windows every time you passed one of them, as if you were expecting Furuta to bust into one of them and attempt to kill you again. Even in your new home, the habit didn't go away for the first week or two.

    It had only stopped when you noticed how Furuta seemed to act nowadays at work.

    Of course, he was still his sassy, witty and teasing self around you, but you, having the sixth sense you had, were able to spot an undertone of regret every time the two of you would talk. He's also been more adamant on making you feel safe around him, which was very difficult to do. Nimura could flash you all the warm smiles he had, give you all the affectionate caresses he could, say the sweetest things this world had ever heard and you would still have a lot of trouble feeling calm around him. Who could blame you? This guy broke your heart and trust in mere seconds.

    He himself knew it. If you ever rejected his caring acts, he let it happen and gave you personal space which, to your surprise, was what made you feel more comfortable. It was his respect for your personal space. Furuta was known to be a highly annoying individual -- you had experienced it firsthand -- and seeing him respect your boundaries like this really helped your recovery.

    At work, things went well too. You had decided to 'give up' on the two cases you had been working on so hard. Seeing as even you had decided to let it go, the CCG decided to store them away for now, claiming that they might be unsolvable at the moment. You had instead taken on some light cases; C to A rated ghouls, that worked individually. You decided that instead of chasing after Uta or the Clowns, you should keep your distance from them for a while. At least until you could cope with your memories of them with more ease.

    Other than that, you were surprised at how... smoothly things were going. In some ways, it felt as if none of that horrid stuff had ever happened to you and you were still back in the days where Furuta was desperately trying to win your affections.

    Although you had said that he respected your boundaries, that didn't mean that he still wasn't trying to get you back. He was, and he seemed dedicated to it, actually. It was a rather heartwarming sight and, against your better judgement, you had started wondering if you should give him a second chance. You knew that the possibility of him trying to kill you again was still there; this was Nimura Souta Furuta you were talking about after all, but... It hurt you to see him silently suffering every day. Even though he managed to keep his emotions and how much he let on in check now, you could still see through his act. He's heartbroken and he misses you.

    You miss him, too.

    But, times have changed. You're more vigilent and you know what he's capable of now. You know how dangerous Furuta can be. With enough logic, you knew you shouldn't even be friends with him at this point, that you should just take him out of your life once and for all, but neither of you would allow it.

    And so, here you were, making what could be the worst mistake of your life, as if you hadn't learned anything from your first roller coaster ride with him.

    You dropped the folder on his desk and leaned on it as Furuta looked up at you. You nodded, giving him the permission to open and scan through it. He did so, looking up at you with interrogation points in his eyes as soon as he caught wind of what was inside the file.

    "I know, right? Weird." You nonchalantly said as you swung one of your legs back and forth. "We don't know if this is a ghoul's doing or just some sick human who's going all Hannibal. Maybe it's both?"

    "I can't believe you're going to ask me something like this at work, (Y/N). Do you want to get me arrested?" Furuta whisper yelled although there was like, no one else on this floor. Except for the cameras, but they can't catch audio, just visuals. So, unless someone in the staff is a phenomenal lip reader, the two of you should be safe.

     "I never asked if it was your doing," You stated, looking down at Furuta's baffled expression. "I was just explaining you the case."

    "And why, exactly?" Your friend asked, flipping through the papers again. "Although you're right, this one's weird."

    This was the moment of truth. The moment that would change your life for the better or worse. This was the time where you'd pass a finger through flames knowing it'd either burn you or leave you with only warm skin. Are you really willing to do this? Should you do this? Turning around and telling Marude about Furuta's origins was always an option, after all. That way, he'd be out of your life and you'd get a total detox. You'd get rid of your worst addiction, but do you really want to let go of it?

    The answer was no.

    "I think I'll need some help with it. You wanna go grab some coffee with me so we can talk it over?" You managed to spit out. In the end, it might've been worth it only to see Furuta's expression.

    His mouth fell agape with incredulity, eyes wide (you swore you saw some tears welling up in them).  "Please tell me this is a joke." He whispered.

    "Nope, I'm dead serious." You countered. "Although I'm surprised you didn't make any witty remarks. Did I catch you off guard?"

    "You're serious?" Furuta asked again. Once you nodded, his lips spread into a wide but genuine smile.

     "Let's get out of here." He stated before jumping out of his chair and dragging you out of the building, a slight skip in his step.