Yuki ran up the stairs leading to the inn. She had seen Lucy step out of the house and went after her. She needed something from her, something very important.
Lucy stepped out of the house, pretending to be Nyu. She was now aware that she had this alter ego and sometimes when she woke to her true self, she pretended to be Nyu.
"Lucy –san!" she heard a voice that seemed to be struggling to breathe.
Lucy closed her eyes, irritated. She turned around with an innocent face.
"Nyu?" Lucy mewed.
"Stop with that bullshit!" Yuki gasped trying to catch her breath. "I know who you are!"
Lucy flinched. This girl who looked about 16 years old had seen through her. The girl wore a grey sweater with black pants and navy blue boots. Her hair was short and white and her eyes were green which held a certain determination. Lucy was wearing a white summer dress and pink flip flops. She also wore a hat to cover her horns.
"So I guess I have no choice to break my character, Nyu," She thought.
She watched as the girl bent over trying to catch her breath.
"What do you want?" Lucy demanded.
"I'm Yuki," the girl finally caught her breath. "I've been looking for you all over the place and I know who you are,"
"That still doesn't answer my question, what do you want?"
"I want you to kill me!" Yuki exclaimed.
Lucy was taken aback. She had killed a lot of people but this girl was asking to kill her, which never happened. People usually begged for her mercy.
"Give me one good reason why I should," Lucy told her.
"That doesn't matter," Yuki said. "Just kill me,"
"Humph, no," Lucy turned around and began to walk away.
"Oh no, you don't! Get back here!" Yuki ran towards her and tackled her down.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Lucy turned onto her back, looking up at her attacker.
"Kill me, my life is worthless," Yuki answered.
"Leave me alone," this girl was giving her the creeps, which was an unusual feeling.
Lucy got up, brushed herself off and walked away. But Yuki followed her, pleading. Lucy tried to ignore her but the girl was relentless. They both went into town, where Lucy had found her secret pleasure. When she was younger, she and Kouta would eat shaved ice together. Now that she had escaped the facility that had imprisoned her, she was able to enjoy this ice cold treat again. Yuki tailed her, all the while begging for her death.
Finally Lucy stopped in front of a vendor, and turned to the young girl.
"Do you like shaved ice?" she asked.
"Huh?" Yuki looked surprised. "I guess so,"
"Two shaved ices please," Lucy turned to Yuki, "What flavor?"
"Well, I don't have any money…"
"What flavor?" Lucy repeated.
"Umm, cherry, I guess…"
"One lemon and one cherry,"
The vendor shaved some ice into two paper cones and added the two flavored syrup into each cone according to the order. Lucy handed him two coins and received her treat. She handed the cherry cone to Yuki who hesitated to take it but Lucy kept holding it out to her so she took the cold paper cone. Lucy walked to the park across from the vendor and sat down on a bench. Yuki followed her. Lucy said nothing and enjoyed her shaved ice. Yuki sat silently next to her just holding her cone without eating it.
"It's going to melt if you don't eat it and then you'll be left with a mess," Lucy commented.
Yuki slowly raised the flavored ice to her mouth and took a small bite. The cold cherry flavor washed over her tongue when she realized that she hadn't had shaved ice in a long time. Lucy watched her from the corner of her eyes as she ate her own treat. When they were both done, instead of getting up, Lucy used one of her vectors to pick up the empty cones and throw them away into a trash can near them.
"Why do you want to die?" Lucy turned to Yuki.
"Because life is so meaningless for me," Yuki looked at her. "There's nothing for me in this world. You of all people should know how cruel life is,"
Lucy nodded slowly. Life had been so cruel to her. She found life so hard that she was so tempted to run away and start life anew in another country or something. Maybe she could move somewhere in South Korea or China. She could tie some ribbons to her horns to hide them so she didn't have to wear a hat all the time and just learn the country's language.
"Life has a meaning," Lucy said. "Just not for everyone, like you and I,"
"Please, just kill me," Yuki began to cry.
For once, Lucy felt remorse for someone other than Kouta. Yuki hugged her knees and sobbed into her arms.
"Why are you so keen to die?" Lucy asked again.
"My mother died four years ago in a car accident," Yuki sniffled. "Something went wrong with the engine and it exploded. She shielded me from the explosion and broke her spine trying to get me out of the wrecked car,"
"That's all?"
"My father blamed me for her death, and afterwards he stopped treating me like his daughter. I had to do all the chores. After a while, he told me that I was worthless and had made his life hell,"
"But that's not true, isn't it?"
"It's not! But he started hitting me every day,"
Yuki rolled up her sleeves, revealing pale arms dotted with bruises. Some were fresh, blue and black while other were yellow, trying to heal. She covered her arms again, took off her boots and rolled up her pants. Her legs were covered in wounds that couldn't have been self-conflicted. Lucy was used to the sight of blood and wounds but she hadn't expected this. The cuts seemed to be struggling to heal but had failed miserably. Yuki rolled down her pants sleeve and put her boots back on.
"You see?" Yuki wiped away her tears. "Life is hell, and I can't stand it anymore,"
Lucy sighed and looked up at the sky. It was a clear day and the sun was shining. A cool breeze gently graced the atmosphere. She stood up and began to walk out of the park.
"Follow me," she ordered Yuki.
Yuki stood silently and followed Lucy. They walked to the beach and Lucy led them to a spot underneath the boardwalk.
"Nobody comes around here so it's safe here," Lucy said.
She took off her hat and placed it on the dry sand. Her clothes followed and leaving her nude. Lucy looked at the young girl and gestured to do the same. Yuki hesitated but remembered that no one could bother them so she slowly undressed herself. Lucy took her hand and led her into the ocean. As soon as the salty water touched the wounds on her legs, she gasped in pain.
"Your cuts are infected," Lucy told her. "Sit down,"
Yuki sat down in the lukewarm water, her legs stinging. Lucy sat next to her and the water came up to their hips. Lucy reached for Yuki's legs and gently started to rub the wounds. The girl cried out in pain.
"Bear the pain," Lucy ordered. "The salty water will help the wounds heal better,"
So Yuki pinched her eyes shut and held her breath, bearing the pain. The stinging in her legs went away after a while. She opened her eyes and found the redness around her cuts had gone down as well as the swelling. Yuki looked at Lucy who was gazing into the ocean. Her grey horns stuck out of her pink hair and Yuki raised her arm. Slowly she touched one of the horns and Lucy looked at her once again sideways, letting her feel the horns. It was smooth and hard underneath Yuki's fingertips. Lucy pulled away after a minute and let the ocean water wash over her legs.
"How do you know about me anyways?" Lucy asked.
"I heard my father talking to some strange men," Yuki slowly responded. "He works for a corporation but I don't know what he does exactly. Then they mentioned you. I was cleaning the house one day while nobody was home when I looked into his briefcase. I found your profile and then I knew what to do,"
"So you came after me?"
"Yes, it took me a long time but one day I saw you at the mall with a man, and I knew it was you,"
The man must've been Kouta, Lucy thought. The two females sat in the water silently. Lucy picked up some pebbles and began tossing them as far as she could.
"So please," Yuki said softly. "Kill me,"
"Let me tell you," Lucy continued to toss pebbles into the ocean. "People usually try to run from me and beg for my mercy. I've never had someone come up to me and ask me to kill them,"
"You've killed so many people!" Yuki exclaimed. "I'm just another one and what does it matter if you kill one more?"
"I haven't killed anyone in a long time," it was true, since Lucy had started living with Kouta, she hadn't murdered anyone. "I've hurt people but haven't killed,"
Lucy used two of her vectors and began choking Yuki who didn't struggle. Before she crushed her neck, Lucy stopped. Yuki coughed, disappointed.
"You really want to die, don't you?" Lucy sneered.
"Yes!" Yuki pleaded.
"Then why don't you do it yourself?"
"Huh?" Yuki actually hadn't considered suicide; she had decided that Lucy would kill her.
"You know, like suicide,"
"I, I don't know…"
"You could hang yourself, stab yourself, jump off a bridge, the list goes on," Lucy looked at Yuki.
"I just thought that you could do it,"
"So I could commit another sin just for you? That I'm a demon and psychopath and would be willing to just kill you? That's pretty selfish of you,"
Yuki looked down at her hands, knowing she was right.
"You're right, I should take care of these kinds of things myself," Yuki stood up.
She sat on the dry sand so her legs could dry and put her clothes back on. Lucy got up and sat next to her.
"I'm not going to kill you," Lucy said. "I've done enough,"
Lucy stood up and brushed the sand off her body and put her clothes back on. She put her hat back on and turned to Yuki who was still naked and hugging her knees.
"Selfishness doesn't get you anywhere but to trouble,"
Yuki nodded and Lucy left her sitting there.
When Lucy was gone, Yuki stayed where she was until the sun started to set. She stood up and walked towards the water. The cold water washed up on her feet and sent shivers up her spine. But she ignored it and went further into the ocean. When the water was up to her torso, she looked back at the shore. The darkness was starting to settle in and Yuki kept walking further and further into the ocean.
The cold water gave her goose bumps and her nipples became hard. But she kept on walking into the cold sea until she was breathing in the salty water. Lucy watched from a distance and turned away after ten minutes of once again seeing death.
Her last breaths were painful but were also blissful. Lucy died with a peaceful state of mind, that Kouta was the one to kill her. She closed her eyes and a white light appeared. She awoke to see Yuki bending over her.
"Hello there," Yuki smiled. "Remember me?"
"Of course," Lucy sat up.
She was still on Earth, though she knew no one could see her. She turned around and saw the entrance to the inn. Without thinking, she knocked on the door. Then she shook her head and chuckled to herself, reminding herself that she was dead and walked through the entrance with Yuki following her. Lucy kneeled next to Kouta and the music box. She touched the box and hummed the melody once more when the music suddenly stopped. The grandfather clock chimed and Lucy looked up to see Yuki standing in front of it.
"It's officially over," Yuki whispered.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.
"That music box was a big part of your hatred. And this grandfather clock was rearranged by 'Nyu', your counterpart who knew no hatred. It's all gone now, you're at peace, and it's all over,"
Lucy stood up and looked at the grandfather clock, standing next to Yuki. After a while, Yuki took Lucy by the hand and walked her out of the inn and led her to a peaceful place where Lucy thought she would never be, heaven.