Filum Fatalis
Summary: Threads have always been used to sew and patch ruined clothes. In the case of one prideful boy and one gluttonous girl, invisible threads have always been sewing them, patching them, drawing and pulling them close together, no matter how much others have tried to put them apart.
Chapter Eleven: Arx
There was a rumor spreading around ―a noisy little bug had been wrecking havoc on The Neuron's patience lately.
Nougami Neuro was known throughout the school for his immense amount of patience (and overprotectiveness) regarding one Katsuragi Yako... His patience for other people, on the other hand―
―it could be considered as thin as a sheet.
Yukinori twirled a pencil in his hand as he gazed at the boisterous students flitting and laughing about in the classroom.
That sadistic man had always been clinging very closely to the Katsuragi girl, and that girl had always been with Kanae.
His Kanae.
Growling, he inadvertently broke the pencil in his hand.
The little bug―a termite, as Neuro had once described―had been on the prowl to search for a certain girl ever since it landed on his territory. A girl that originally belonged to him.
Yukinori grinned as he stood up, dusting away the remnants of tiny wood splinters on his palm. Several pairs of eyes glanced at him, quickly nodding before going on about their way, and Yukinori left his class.
Time to meet the overprotective eagle.
Jennifer had the craziest idea of trying to win Neuro's affection this morning—not that she really had a chance in the first place, but she did try. It had involved her with trying to undress in front of him―in the middle of the hallway―
―in front of Yako.
And, as expected of him, he had merely raised an eyebrow and yawned, and had pushed (kicked) Jennifer away―using his foot―from the path that he and Yako were about to take. Yako had only hummed—quite uncharacteristic of her, Jennifer assumed—as she passed by the fallen Scottish student. Needless to say, it only spurred Jennifer on.
She sighed as she looked at Neuro and Yako's smiling forms, it would be so easy to break them apart, was what she initially thought. But their bond was strong.
A long and red-hued fingernail tapped an equally red bottom lip, her eyeliner-rimmed eyes casting glances upon the blond man's smiling face.
He was tall. Blond. Foreign. Strange. A sadist. And young. Oh so young. And Jennifer had pined for him since the day he pushed her to the bulletin board. She hummed.
Too bad his attention had always been on his "little kitten".
A lone, strange figure entered the room, and Jennifer's eyebrow raised as that figure―a young man―approached Neuro.
"Hey, Nougami, Katsuragi," the platinum-haired man said, his greeting laced with haughtiness as he regarded them with a tiny simper.
Yako looked up from her position on the chair. Her back was currently heaving Neuro's socked feet, and it was getting hard for her to move. Nevertheless, she didn't complain.
Neuro, who was now leaning back on his chair with a small smile―no doubt from feeling Yako's back with his bitty toes (Don't remove my bra, you idiot!)―looked at the intruder, and regarded said intruder with a small hum.
"Oh. Hello. To what do I owe you this unwanted and untimely visit, Principal's little brother?" Neuro asked with a small simper of his own as Yako pulled away from his socked feet with a flushed face. She laid them on her shoulders instead, and Neuro smiled―his obedient little louse.
The intruder, Yukinori, huffed, and he smirked at Yako's now baffled face.
"You and your little lovebug. I need to talk to you two."
"What ever for? I haven't done anything to warrant your wrath, have I? How about you, piglet?"
Yako furiously shook her head, and opted not to retort at calling her a 'lovebug'. It's what the whole school probably thinks, anyway.
Yukinori laughed as he regarded their wide-eyed looks, "I need to talk to you two about the item that was stolen from me."
"We're not detectives, fire-boy."
"Hah! I know you aren't. I'm not talking about a real item."
"Oh? Using euphemisms, are we? What good will it do?"
"For anonymity."
At this, Neuro nudged Yako with his left foot, his face scrunched up in confusion, and he was answered with a vague shrug of shoulders.
"...really, now?"
There was a round of silence, and Yako spoke up.
"Yukinori-san wants us to talk sense into Kanae-chan?"
Yukinori nodded stiffly, his face dark and serious as he looked at Yako and Neuro. The formidable pair―as he had once dubbed them as―stood in front of him, blinking in confusion. The taller of the two, Neuro, had a certain look in his eye the whole time they were having a conversation.
"What's in it for us, I wonder?" asked Neuro with a small hum and a bright smile, and Neuro couldn't quite help it if he could trust this person. Godai was a different story, though. He could be manipulated. Yukinori, on the other hand...
"I'll be your ally. Me and my brother, in fact. If anyone would dare cross with you and your kitten, they would have hell to pay. You two could bypass the rules. I only need you two to say the word."
Yako cocked her head to one side, eyes blinking upon hearing his words. No one would try to anger Neuro, right? And why am I still a kitten?
A long and pondering hum. A thoughtful finger perched upon his chin. A lazy smile painted on his thin lips. An amused look on his marbled face.
"Pros and cons. Hm. Decisions, decisions..."
Yukinori gulped as he looked at those calculating green eyes and that mischievous smile. Nougami Neuro was said to be very much wary of his surroundings and of the people he mingled with. Very little was known about his private affairs throughout the school. Only the closest to him, the Neuron's "baby bird", Katsuragi Yako, was the only one who could actually see through his actions and words.
The chill of the May wind seeped through Yukinori's bones as he counted the seconds that would take Neuro to answer. The skies were starting to darken, and soon, they would be drenched in rain.
Why had they talked on the rooftop again?
He had once heard from Mutsuki that Neuro had always hated the rain. Yukinori wouldn't want to make his mood turn sour just because of the weather. Making decisions would be easier if one's mood was at ease.
"Yako, what do you think?" he heard Neuro ask, and Yukinori was sure that he was amused—that lilting and sudden high-pitched voice said so.
Yako hummed, and a little smile played on her pink-glossed lips as she, too, pondered the decision she should make. A pair of deep, whirlpool green eyes gazed at her with what Yukinori could only assume as pride and playfulness.
Their smiles look alike.
"Well," Yako began, as she, too, tapped a finger on her chin. "It would be nice if we could have an ally on the higher-ups. It might be unfair to some, but―that's all there is." Neuro huffed, a wide smile played upon his lips as he wrapped his arms around her petite form, "Grasping at straws now, are we?" And she laughed as his chin then sat atop of her scalp. He smugly looked at Yukinori, and hummed.
"It seems to be all right for my little maggot. So I think I'll be nice and cooperate with this little game of yours."
A chuckle reverberated through their ears, and Yukinori looked at the darkening skies, "About time―
"―I need to get my flame back, Nougami."
Neuro laughed, his smile wide and his teeth bared as he spoke, "Do you get to rip the computer bug's pride to shreds while you're at it?"
Yukinori nodded.
And Neuro's eyes glinted with glee.
"Perfect."
"Yako, it's quite rare for you to go out without Nougami-san."
Yako laughed as Kanae sipped on her iced tea. True, Neuro had released her from her leash this time, but still, the feeling of freedom that she should be feeling right now never really coarsed through her veins.
She blamed all of her accessories for it.
From her grinning hair clips to her prickly bracelet to the beautifully-customized choker wrapped snugly around Yako's neck―courtesy of the work of Neuro's own hands, for once―all of them have one thing in common.
Wired devices. Hidden beneath their designs.
Her hair clips served as listening devices, each connected to an earpiece that was placed in Neuro's ear. Her bracelet served as a tracking device, and Yako's current location could be tracked down by Neuro's computer.
And finally, her choker. The only accessory that Yako had considered as genuine―and expensive!―jewelry. Two black leather straps lined with platinum, each embedded with soft feathers drawn out of melted white gold and rose gold. Speckles of ruby showered its form, and it hugged her slim neck with a comfortable weight. A white gold clasp held it together, the chain felt cool against her nape. A pendant of jade laced with onyx shone to the world, its frame made of tungsten. Yako instantly held the choker dear―for it was the first time that Neuro had lavished her with such a thing.
A tiny camera sat beneath the combined jewels that hugged her petite neck. Its pendant deceived whoever might look at it at first glance. A deceptive shine shone behind the onyx, and Neuro had made sure that the camera would be very much camouflaged.
It didn't fail to make Yako wonder, however―
―how did he get this? Moreover, how did he make it? I mean, he hid my accessories from me for three days until I could finally wear them again, and all—and—I never once saw his room with such precious metals! Where on earth did he get his materials for this thing?
"Neuro made sure I would be safe before he had let me go, you see," Yako said with a smile as she bit on her sixth slice of pizza. Kanae laughed. Yako's eyes fell on her prickly bracelet, she shook it a bit and she smiled.
Neuro sat on his bed, in front of his laptop, with a pair of earphones placed on his ears as he looked at the monitor with a smile.
His little pillbug and her friend were in a restaurant near the noisy district of Akihabara, and he was sure that by the end of the night, Yako's wallet would be depleted for the umpteenth time because of her gluttony.
Neuro huffed as he looked at the monitor. He should have let Yako wear a pair of eyeglasses instead of a choker. The camera's position in the pendant was making it hard for him to look at what Yako was really looking at.
But that would be strange, wouldn't it? Because she had never once wore eyeglasses.
So he had opted for a different approach. A choker made out of the finest materials that he could find lying inside his room, some of which he never really knew he had. That would be enough. Besides, he thought it was a nice touch on her. A choker. A chain. A collar coiled around her neck. A hoard of jewelry melted together and later slapped on leather to create a cover around the red mark he had given her this morning.
He smirked.
It suits her. Because she is my slave.
Neuro hummed as he listened in on their conversation. Mundane things. The latest clothes. The trendiest makeup. The latest school gossip―one which involved Neuro and Yako themselves. He shrugged it off. Nothing new.
So he let his mind wander to more interesting things.
Like the fact that he could clearly hear Yako chewing while talking noisily through his earpiece.
The little pig.
He laughed.
It had taken him three days to reconstruct her trinkets into effective spying devices; with an added two days for making Yako's choker. No. He wouldn't use them for disgusting acts such as voyeurism. That would be too revolting for Neuro's refined tastes. There was a reason why he had also put in a tiny button on her choker—it was for her to safely turn off the camera whenever she felt she needed to have her privacy.
He could wait for Yako. He had always waited for her.
And right now, he wanted to smack Yako on her head for sloppily slurping on her eighth bowl of ramen.
He recalled how Yako had been adamant on trying to convince him that she would be just fine―and that was a couple of days ago. But he had never wavered. In the end, she had lent him her accessories―during the time when they were about to go to sleep―and he had wasted no time in tweaking everything to how he wanted them to be.
Neuro smiled and closed his eyes as he listened to Yako's voice.
He was proud of his ability to assemble and disassemble things. And it seemed that he had found it useful and vital for this occasion.
He could hear it again. The soft tinkle of Yako's bracelet. He had replaced the thin and breakable strip of fabric that held the beads together―he didn't know what to call it―with a chain of silver and white gold. It would do much better than the previous "chain". He even customized his own bracelet to match Yako's, down to the last bead that had been carefully embedded with a tracking device.
The camera on Yako's pendant shook and moved, and it indicated that she had stood, judging from the way the sounds of shuffling cloth and clops of shoes against a squeaky chair met his ears.
"I'll be right back, Kanae-chan," he heard her say, and Neuro hummed. He knew where she was going, and he was debating with himself whether he should close the laptop for a few minutes or should just let it be.
The sound of Yako's shoes clacked against the tiles, and the sight of Yako's minute hand turning a doorknob was seen through Neuro's screen.
He grinned, leaned on his bed's headboard, and closed his eyes instead.
His phone rang after a few seconds, and, without opening his eyes, he reached for it and answered it. He already knew who it was.
"Don't look, dummy," the voice, Yako's, said.
Neuro barked a laugh.
"As if I would look at something as small and as constantly wet as your cu―"
"Just shut up, you jerk."
"Heh."
The sound of silence crept through his ears, and his eyes took the tiniest peak between his thick lashes, his curiosity getting the best of him as a smile bloomed on his face.
The camera was focusing on something off-white, and Neuro huffed and uncharacteristically pouted.
...probably the door.
The sound of shuffling cloth and the familiar clopping of her shoes were heard through Neuro's earpiece, and the sound of a soft grunt and a flushing toilet echoed in the background.
"Finished now?"
Yako only groaned on the other line, and Neuro chuckled.
Yako took extra time not go back to the table which she and Kanae occupied. Only ten seconds left before she could safely go out in the open.
When her ten seconds was up, she took a deep breath and mustered her brightest smile. Her phone had been safely tucked inside her small purse, and Neuro had stopped pestering her for the time being.
He sees me now, anyway. In a way, I think.
She opened the restroom door and returned to her table.
The familiar sound of a certain someone's voice echoed not from afar.
It was time.
Yako's shoes clacked on the tiles as she walked towards her table.
Kanae looked livid.
Yako's eyes widened at the sight of a familiar young man sitting on her seat, "Eh? Yukinori-san?"
It was nighttime. Ten minutes past midnight, to be exact. And the Nougami household was silent, save for the small sounds that buzzed from the appliances in his house.
"Well? How did it go?"
"You should have told me that Aomi-san was nearby where we ate."
"No need to tell you about the trivial things. So? What happened?"
Yako, who was clad in one of Neuro's black button-down shirts (that was too large for her small stature), stretched her arms upwards and yawned before plopping her tired body on Neuro's bed, her face falling first on the pillows.
She faced him with droopy eyes and a small yawn, "She was shocked, of course. Also, Yukinori-san looked too pleased before I left. And you had impeccable timing on calling me."
"Of course," he muttered, and this time, it was Neuro who yawned as he moved his forehead closer to hers. Yako shifted her position so she could breathe properly―sleeping on one's stomach never really made her comfortable―and he inched closer to her still. Her small hand reached for the coverlets at her feet and she covered their cold forms. Neuro hummed at the act, and he slowly wrapped his leg over hers. Yako said nothing as she draped her arm around him, her head cuddled close beneath his chin. It was now a familiar and welcomed act between them―both of them growing too attached to each other to the point that their intimacy should constantly be felt. Both of them had no qualms about it.
"What did Zera do to you?" Neuro asked as he blew a small tuft of Yako's hair away from his nose. His thin lips kissed the top of her head, and a lean arm wrapped around Yako's small form.
"Nothing much. He told me that I'll be staying here for the fourth day in a row, so we hurried to return before it rains. A storm is coming, you know."
"Psh. Don't remind me of storms, dust mite. It's already cold enough as it is."
She laughed, "Oh, I'm sorry, Mister I-Hate-Rains-So-Much. I didn't know I've struck a nerve."
She received a pinch to the nose.
He received a nip to his Adam's apple.
There was a small round of silence, and then―
"Things should go a bit bumpy when Monday comes. I was thinking of recording everything and upload it on the net. It would be like one of your shitty dramas. What do you think?"
"Kanae will kill me if we'd do that."
"Heh. Not putting the honorific on her name again, eh?"
"Ssh!"
Kanae had been endlessly ranting on how Yukinori had treated her like they were on their first date—all smiles and charm, and Yako could only offer a twitch of her lips. Love advice. It was something that she never really had the time to deal with actual love problems. Does Neuro count as being a problem? ...Nah.
They were in the school gym, and their physical exams have just finished. Yako had just gotten her height measured, and—
...it's still 159 centimeters.
She pouted, "...Not fair. Even Neuro had his height measured and he's now 180 centimeters tall..."
A pair of arms hoisted her from behind, "Maybe if you increase your daily calcium intake, something might happen about that miniscule height of yours."
Yako sighed as he let those lean arms carry her even higher, until she decided to just sit on his shoulders and rest her hands on Neuro's head—and for some reason, her sitting on his shoulders made her feel somehow powerful. "I am eating food with calcium, you know, but nothing really happens," she said with a small quirk of her lip.
Neuro nibbled on her inner thigh—quite shamelessly, too, Yako observed, and yet she made no comment, opting to bite the smile that was about to bloom on her face instead. He hummed and snorted as he eyed a couple of girls ogling at him, "Hm. Maybe if I stretch you from scalp to toe like some baker's dough—"
"No way!"
"Heh."
Neuro wrapped his hands around Yako's feet as to not make her fall. His eyes scanned the room warily, senses on high alert for any disgusting males that might make a move on—
"Hey, Yako," a voice called, and Kanae piped from behind them. Neuro had to face her fully so her and his little worm could properly talk. And no, he won't put her down just because of some silly girl talk.
Yako, despite the odd looks the students gave her (and Neuro), managed to smile and wave at her. The feeling of being tall for once made her feel elated, "Ah, Kanae-chan! What is it?"
"...I just want to say thanks for last week. That's all," and Kanae smiled as she bit her lip, knowing full well that Yako understood what she meant. Neuro merely smiled a small smile that barely reached his eyes. He, too, knew what she meant—
—it was a part of his plan, after all.
Waking up to a persistent phone call from Kanae was not what Yako was expecting on this nice Saturday morning.
"Well? Why haven't you told me about this?"
Yako frowned and blinked the sleep away from her droopy eyelids as she looked at the ceiling of her room. "I don't know what you're talking about," Yako mumbled, her voice still laced with grogginess and sleep. Neuro was facing her, his long arm draped possessively over her torso, his bright, green eyes wide and large and his smile resembled that of the crescent moon as Yako talked on the phone. It seemed that he, too, had been awoken to the shrill ring of her phone. He did not seem to mind it at all, at least.
"Yako! I'm talking about this! This picture that has been circulating on our school BBS since last night!" Kanae's yell on the other line was loud, too loud, and it made Neuro frown and grumble, and he buried his face to Yako's neck like an attention-seeking feline, for he could clearly hear Kanae's voice. Dealing with noisy and senseless girl talk in the morning had never been his idea of starting his day.
"Tell her to shut up already," Neuro harshly mumbled to Yako's ear with a hiss of an angry cat, and yet, she ignored him―opting to simply pat his head twice with her left hand as a reply to his demand. She could deal with his tortures later on. Neuro only grumbled.
"What picture?" Yako asked, her voice more awake than it was a few minutes ago. Her eyes glanced at the clock. It was nine in the morning.
"Open your email! The both of you! He is there with you, right? I'm sure he doesn't know of this! And he won't like it!"
Yako and Neuro looked at each other, their faces looked skeptical at Kanae's statement. Something that Neuro wouldn't like?
He was the first to get out of the bed, his feet ignoring the bite of the cold June air as he went over to Yako's computer and opened it―like he owned it.
Yako soon followed, her phone still held close to her ear, "Kanae-chan, what on earth do you―"
"Just look at it!"
Yako winced at the words, and she hurried over to where Neuro sat. He was too pre-occupied with this "something" that would shock even him.
"Type your password," he said, and she did as she was told.
Clicking on the blinking envelope icon on the screen, Yako's heart quickened its beat―what is this picture that could―
The buffering icon appeared, the image loaded, and its pixelated pieces were becoming clearer as the seconds ticked.
The image, all clear and colored in blue, gray and black, seemed to douse both Neuro and Yako in ice cold water.
"...Oh my―"
"You've seen it?" Kanae squeaked from the phone, and she could tell that Yako was silently panicking as much as she was.
Yako was speechless. Neuro simply stared at the screen. Kanae shrieked in the background―something about "this being a scandal".
On the screen was a picture of Yako, clad in a low-cut blouse that showed too much of her chest―that was two sizes larger than her real size―smiling at the camera with her arms outstretched, and hugging her from behind was a man, his hands placed firmly on her―
Yako gulped.
The man who was holding her so provocatively from behind―his hands were on her breasts and thighs shamelessly―was not Neuro.
It was someone else who was not Neuro.
That was the scandal.
Yako's face turned deathly pale.
A scandal! Yako screamed in her head.
Dizziness shadowed her vision.
"...um. Kanae-chan, I think we―"
Her words were cut short as her phone was snatched from her tiny hand. As much as Yako wanted to complain for his lack of manners, she immediately backed out on lashing out at Neuro as soon as she saw the dark glimmer in his eyes. The look was too familiar to her sight.
"Hello, Yako's friend? Where did you get this from?" and it was Neuro who spoke this time, his voice laced with false glee and optimism as he smiled at the computer screen, his right hand crushing the mouse in his death grip as he did so. Yako gulped once again, and she was sure that Kanae was stuttering on the other line.
She looked at his smiling face as he talked with Kanae, then at his spidery right hand that was suffocating her poor mouse.
I think I have to buy another one.
"Ah, is that so...?" Neuro muttered, his voice barely heard through Yako's bitty ears.
Neuro was smiling―a barely-there smile. His two fanged teeth gleamed at her caramel gaze. Whirlpools of emerald-onyx orbs were melting into her soul.
He chuckled.
Yako's eyes twitched.
He's mad! And I mean ultra mad!
Yako was about to speak out to Neuro about some questions, but―
"Okay. Bye, then," and he hung up. Yako gaped and stomped her feet. "What was that for? Neuro, I know this picture is nothing but a fraud and―" she tried to get her point across, but was cut off as Neuro merely grabbed her head and pulled her close to him, and she could feel his cool peppermint-scented breath on her flushed skin.
"Kitten, prepare yourself for Monday."
"Eh, what do you―"
"Hell is about to rise from its depths."
Yako gulped as she looked into those jade-hued eyes.
If looks could kill...!
This particular Sunday morning left Yako feeling nervous from inside out, and she didn't even know why. She assumed it was because of the scandalous (and fake!) picture of her spreading like wildfire throughout her school bulletin boards. Her caramel eyes glanced at the digital clock sitting on her dresser. It was ten past six.
Turning around, she noticed that Neuro was still asleep, his delicate eyelids and heavy eyelashes concealing the deep green and obsidian eyes that she have came to know for years. He was sleeping on her, draping her in a warm embrace filled with his ever possessiveness―that seemed to reign his subconscious as well. His breath tickled her left cheek and her neck, and she couldn't help but to smile and pat his head and peck him on the nose. Neuro grumbled as he lazily nuzzled her neck―and it was the sweetest greeting that Yako had ever received from him.
Or maybe it's simply because he's asleep.
With Yako trying to pry his long limbs away from her body, Neuro groaned and opened his eyes. Yako sat on the bed lazily.
His voice was still laced with sleep as he turned on his back with a yawn, his evergreen eyes looking at her slender form with a small smile, "Piggy, where are you going?"
"Toilet. Why? You coming with me?"
He laughed as he stretched his arms overhead, his body resembling an oversized cat as he grinned at a smiling Yako, "Oh? Why, aren't you the bold little maggot today! You're inviting me to the bathroom? Do you have some certain needs that may require my brutal assistance?"
Yako merely giggled as she skipped to the door, and Neuro immediately noticed that her recent favorite sleepwear―Neuro's Victorian shirt―was hiking higher and higher as she hopped on her bare feet, and he was sure that he caught a glimpse of her thin, cotton-white panties as she opened the door. Hm? In a very good mood, perhaps?
"No, Mister Sadistic-and-Possessive," Yako replied with a broad smile as she stepped outside her bedroom. "I don't require your assistance with my―certain needs. No matter how 'brutal' it is as you put it. But I appreciate the thought of you offering help," and with that, she closed the door with a happy hum, leaving a curious Neuro in his wake.
He smiled, and he turned over to where Yako's computer sat, eyeing it with disdain—and he frowned. Last night was something that he hadn't expected. The situation with the―obviously photoshopped―picture was getting out of hand, and he had already turned off his and Yako's phones the moment he had received a call from one of their classmates in the middle of the night; receiving calls from their bothersome classmates had never been his thing of entertaining himself, anyway.
A small hum resonated from Neuro's throat as he eyed his phone on the dresser.
He could always do something to prevent this distasteful incident from spreading any further. If word reached the Katsuragi couple about their daughter looking like a tasteless tramp on the school's website―
―oh, the horrible things that Neuro would do to the people who would look at Yako with malicious intent!
A wide and sneaky grin bloomed on his face as he sat up, running a large hand through his mussed up hair as he did so.
Yes. That would do. It was the only way he knew.
Eating lunch with the Katsuragi household had always been strange for Neuro―or maybe it was because he had never really experienced what it was like to eat with a real family until he met Yako―
At least, he was thankful that the atmosphere every meal time in the Katsuragi abode was something that Neuro considered as warm—unlike in my not-so-near home. Yako, for one, was doing a―quite unnecessary―show of boldness by eating a jar of chili paste, declaring that it would taste like a bit of spice on her mouth.
The screams that erupted from her the moment she ate a spoonful of it made Neuro laugh.
Oh, yes.
He had grown quite fond of the Katsuragi house.
A warm place to live in, indeed.
"Judging from the way they have talked with us earlier, it didn't seem like the news have reached them," Neuro crooned as he played on the small tuft of Yako's hair as he read his school notes. Yako sighed, and gasped as a pair of spidery fingers suddenly probed her mouth. She opted not to reply to his recent observation.
She and Neuro, despite the silence in the air as they read their lessons for tomorrow's quiz―that darned Tubulik!―were tense, and it was because of that photo.
Yako gulped as she turned a page of her binder. She was lying on Neuro's lap, with him leaning on the headboard as they both read. She tried hard not to get distracted by those fingers in her mouth, but―
―hearing him groaning like that―
―it was too much for poor Yako.
She sucked on his fingers harder, and Neuro smirked.
"Coming undone?" he asked, and Yako shook her head. He smiled, "Good girl."
Yako wondered if she could ever resist his charms. She blamed his smile―
―and that voice―!
She arched her back upon hearing him groan, and she was sure that something was prodding the back of her head.
She gulped as Neuro eyed her with a licentious smile.
He knows what I'm thinking! Again!
Hurried and mumbled whispers flowed and ebbed through Yako's ears, each murmured word a promise of how vile she must have looked through the student body's eyes.
"Hey! Haven't you heard? The Neuron's kitten is playing with another man!"
"Hush! You are not to say such things about Yako-sama!"
"But―!"
Yako buried her face on Neuro's sleeve, silently whining all the while as they walked.
Neuro's jaw was tense as the clopping of his shoes echoed in the hallways, his hand grasped firmly on Yako's―and the whispers hushed. Numerous pairs of eyes looked down and away upon catching the green-eyed man's piercing gaze. When Nougami Neuro gets mad, the students immediately know what to do—and not talking so rudely about Yako while he was around was one way of showing him (and her) some respect.
Sliding the door to their homeroom, both Neuro and Yako were taken aback as they were suddenly surrounded by their overly-curious classmates. Neuro snarled as he moved Yako behind him, and the students immediately gave them room to enter.
Kanae was standing near Yako's desk, her hands crossed over her chest. Her lips were drawn in a thin line as they approached their respective seats. The hush of murmurs blew across Yako's ears once again, and for once, she was grateful for the forceful hold that Neuro had on her.
"Yako―"
"Not now, Kanae," Yako mumbled, her voice hushed, not bothering to add an honorific to her name, and Neuro merely hummed as he sat behind her, his face emotionless.
Kagohara Kanae remained silent as Mutsuki happily strolled over to Neuro's side, handing over a manila envelope to him, and he smiled broadly.
Yako merely blinked upon seeing the unusual exchange. Neuro only widened his grin.
"Hey, Neuro."
"Hm?"
"What did Mutsuki-tan give you this morning?"
"Nothing of importance. Don't get your head spinning by thinking too much. Your cobwebbed brain won't be able to take it."
Yako huffed.
Going to the school library had become a routine ever since they had met Shinobu and Yukinori, that, and the unquenchable thirst for new knowledge had always led Neuro―and an unwilling Yako―there. Today was no exception.
Taking a seat near the fire exit, Neuro grabbed the first book he had touched on the nearby shelf, and his eyes scanned the library. Few students, some sleeping, others chatting with peers, others studying―just like how Neuro liked it. The librarian looked at Yako with an exasperated sigh. His little maggot was eating pork buns in the library again, and the poor librarian couldn't stop her no matter how much she tried. In the end, she let her be―as long as my little louse won't resort to eating books, then all is well for me.
The familiar scent of beer tickled Yako's nose as she finished her third pork bun, and she smiled when she peeked from the large shelf behind her, concealed from the eyes of the school librarian.
"Yukinori-san. Godai-san," she whispered, and the males turned around, as though her presence was expected.
Neuro stood up and lifted Yako off of her feet by entwining an arm around her stomach―she remained still, though―and the book was left forgotten on the table as he and Yako sat near the door.
What the two of them weren't expecting, however, was the presence of one Miyasako Mutsuki sitting close to Yukinori.
"Nee-chan! Neuro-nii!"
Yako blinked upon seeing the smiling girl looking very much at ease with Yukinori, "Mutsuki-tan? What are you doing here?"
In response, Mutsuki giggled, a quiet tinkle of a laugh that sounded like bells to Yako's ears.
"I'm here to help you and Neuro-nii. Yukicchi and I are allies, you see. Hisanori-jii said that nee-chan is having a hard time dealing with the leaked picture, so I lent him a hand."
Caramel eyes gazed at whirlpool-dark green ones, and judging by Neuro's ghost of a smile, it meant that he knew what Mutsuki had been up to.
Wait―
"Mutsuki-tan, what do you mean, 'allies'? You and Yukinori-san?" Yako asked with a discreet point of a finger towards the ever smiling girl. Mutsuki nodded.
"Hisanori-jii and my grandpa are business partners. They have been for many years. So, naturally, I have contacts within the Hayasaka family, I can have them at my beck and call."
And she said it all with a bright, wide smile. A smile that promised that she, and her friends, were not to be messed with. There was an underlying threat in the way she spoke those words, and it sounded strange coming from the innocent-looking girl in front of them.
Yako's eyes widened at the revelation. Guess she's someone not to be crossed with―a yandere. That's what she is.
"Miyasako-san," quipped Neuro suddenly from beside Yako. She glanced at his quite familiar smile, and intuition told her that Neuro had known that Mutsuki was connected to the Hayasaka brothers in an intimate, family-like way.
Why am I being kept in the dark about this?
"Neuro-nii? What is it?"
"The files you gave me this morning were all right. But I need more details. Their address, their numbers, mobiles, their mode of transportation when going here, the times when they would leave the school, their parents. I want all of that."
Yukinori laughed, and patted Mutsuki on her head like she was his own little sister. "Demanding as ever, Nougami. But that's what my brother wanted in ya. Tell you what, Godai will do all of that. That's too much work for little Mucchan."
"Hey, what are ya selling me fo―"
"And besides, Godai owes me money."
And Shinobu withered.
Yako, confused by all the things that they were discussing about, decided to pipe in and lightly tugged Neuro's sleeve, "What's this about?" she asked with a blink, and this time, Neuro offered her a wide leer.
"My kitten is my kitten. And no one else's. Some ugly toms are trying to get their paws on her, but there will always be a fence and a forest of thorns to keep them away from her puny little body."
A long period of silence ensued, three pairs of eyes looked at Neuro as he smiled.
"Speaking in poetic metaphors all of a sudden, I see," Yako thought out loud with a puzzled face, and a giggle escaped her glossed lips before she could stop herself. She was rewarded with a painful pinch to her cheek. And all the while, Mutsuki, Shinobu and Yukinori stared at them, fascinated about how they could switch from one mood to another in a matter of seconds.
"You don't want to be compared to a kitten, then? How about I'd demote you back to being a strumpet? My strumpet? Would you like that?"
"No, please―and let go of my chee―ow!"
"Ahaha! Look at how stretchable your face is! Like a wad of chewed bubblegum!"
Shinobu watched the animated exchange between the blond and the "stretchable" girl, and he couldn't quite help it, but to think of how intimate and comfortable they are with each other.
"He's on the move to find out who they are."
"Really, now? I suppose she doesn't know anything about it, seeing as the kitten looked quite dazed this afternoon before our PE class."
A laugh, "Are you sure it wasn't because he devoured her again on the roof?"
"Oh, please. Stop it. I'm sure she's still intact. He acts different around her―and I know worship when I see it. He's waiting for her, and those kisses he peppered on her face this afternoon after changing our uniforms were proof enough. And how can you be so sure that he devoured he on the roof? We have never been there. That's their unspoken territory."
Silence fell upon them, and the girl with the glossy hair and glittered chest huffed as she tapped her feet.
"I'll make sure you'll get a perfect score for tomorrow, Gakusei-san. Thank you for your work."
A soft chuckle erupted from the student's throat, "I'm looking forward to that, Lady 'Genuine'."
A smile bloomed on Yuuya's face as he tried to counter the attack of an unknown virus trying to hack into his computer system.
Leaning back on his chair, he eyed the screen with fascination, "Eh, I didn't know you could do this. Even so, you wouldn't find anything that could point me as the culprit―"
The lights in his room blinked on and off, on and off, and his computer screen flickered to blackness, mirroring the dark sky outside. Yuuya frowned.
"Probably the―"
The lights blinked, and blacked out completely, and the soothing hum and buzz of his appliances silenced to a halt.
Standing up with a shrug, he looked out of the windows to check how many houses the blackout had caused―
"―Eh? Only me?"
The lights flickered on, and Yuuya hummed as he turned around―
―and the blood drained from his face as he looked at a familiar figure—clad in a thin, long-sleeved shirt and jeans, staring at him with a smile that barely reached his ears—standing by his doorway.
"Nougami. What are you doing here?"
"Mother, do you know where Neuro went? I just woke up and he's not beside me. I even called Aomi-san. He's not there, either."
Haruka looked from the bowl of soup she was trying to make, and she frowned when she heard her daughter's question. Miwako was beside her, making some broth for the soup―probably for udon.
"No, but he did tell me that he'll be out for a few hours. He hasn't come home since seven o'clock―and it's already nine. He didn't leave a note?"
Yako shook her head, and she mirrored her mother's frown.
"Don't worry, honey. I'm sure he's fine. Maybe he's buying books? You know how he is."
Yako forced a smile upon hearing her mother's assumptions. Mother, I'm always the one who buys his books. But I can't tell you that, can I?
"I'll be waiting for him in the living room, then," and with that, she fished out a box of pocky from the pantry and went to the living room, grabbing the remote by the television as she did so.
Haruka nodded and smiled.
Ten pages this chapter. Hm. Close enough. I was aiming for 13 pages, but... Oh well. :P
