Katya Edition: Second Edition

Forty First Corpse: A Messy Family Affair

"Why the hell would I understand the thoughts of a complete narcissist?"

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Forty-First Corpse | A Messy Family Affair

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[Z-day +14 | Apr. 28 | 06:57hrs]

The redhead before me had never elicited such murderous intent before. In school we never had much to do with each other. She was a social butterfly, queen of the 'cool' kids. I was a Goddess of War who people had more sense than to approach carelessly. Mia Shiro's path and mine never had any reason to intersect, which was one of the reasons I was so surprised to find that she was the architect of the rift between my friends and me in the first place.

I could even overlook that to an extent because none of us had been harmed too badly despite the bad blood.

But this bitch treated Yamada like a bargaining chip and subjected him to Shidou's vile presence and god knows what else. My anger toward her was more intense than even my grief and I welcomed it. I didn't want to think about Yamada's fate so breaking her face was the best way to distract myself in my opinion. Swamped by grief and anger successively, it muddled my brain so badly, I didn't even stop to think about the implications behind Mia's very much live presence.

My brain was further muddled by her reaction to me. Maybe I wasn't scary enough since she looked at me with eyes full of reverence I'd never seen before on the other girl's haughty face. Her eyes swelled with tears and despite my murderous glares, she was looking at me like I was her savior. Did she not know I was seconds away from skinning her alive?

When Mia suddenly burst into tears and launched herself at me, I was so dumbfounded that I didn't even react in time and her body crashed into mine, making me grunt in surprise and from her sudden weight. The scent of stale sweat, and obvious body odor made my nose wrinkle on reflex and I grabbed her shoulder and shoved her away from me mercilessly. Her grip on me loosened and she stumbled back, falling harshly on her rear.

"The fuck do you think you're doing?!" I snarled, sounding more vicious than I think I ever had.

"S-sorry!" Mia stuttered out, shocking me once again. When the hell was Mia Shiro ever apologetic? Had she gone mental or was I the one who'd lost it? "I just got a bit overwhelmed! He said you'd come for us but I...I..." Mia trailed off as she suddenly burst into childish sobs, rubbing at her eyes and face. "I thought we were gonna die!"

He? We?

My breath caught in my throat and my eyes opened wide. I turned as rigid as stone, blinking slowly but it was as if my brain had short-circuited with the speed of my kaleidoscope emotions. I was completely blank in the face when Mia suddenly gasped and shot to her feet.

"You have to help him! He's sick!" She exclaimed, grabbing my arm and tugging me right through the door I was so afraid of before. My body followed hers like it was just a shell without a soul and honestly that's how I felt, like my soul had vacated my body.

When I heard the moans from before, the ones that had caused me so much anguish, my soul abruptly slammed back into my body, bringing me back to reality as a feeling of new life rushed through me and I ripped my arm away from Mia so I could cover my mouth that was wide open in shock.

Flushed skin, glazed eyes and sweat dripping even though the air was really cool and gently waved by in a soft breeze, Yamada was leaning against a nearby wall, his breath sounding heavy and constrained. He looked awful, his glasses missing from his face, his dark hair ruffled and matted with who knew what, his shirt dirty and caked with flaking brown substance I realized was dried blood—but the most important thing was that, he was alive!