Chapter 20 – End of the Line

It was now time for the final exams for Students of Akademi High. Afters months of cram school studying, and preparing, the students were now ready to begin their exams that should they pass, allow them to the universities of their choice. Held once a year, students would to the test centers to begin the exams. It was in Buraza Park, where students would relax in between the exams, a game reserve that Yandere-Chan paid Megami Saikou an unannounced visit. She observed Megai, who was hurrying away to excused herself from the company of two student council members. But it was Yandere-Chan who was surprised.

"I knew you would come, Ayano-chan," Megami said when Yandere-Chan approached her from behind.

"How did you know?"

"We're friends after all, aren't we?"

"And so it is." Yandere-Chan said

Megai smiled.

Yandere-Chan recognized the one-eyed female the student council's enforcer, Aoi Ryugoku, as well as the treasurer, Shiromi Torayoshi. At the end of Megami's explanation, Aoi turned her head to show Yandere-Chan a look of disapproval before moving on.

"She doesn't seem to care to much for me," Yandere-Chan said when Megami returned.

Megami dismissed it with a wave. "She doesn't know you like I do."

A few days had passed without any contact between the two of them. Judging by Megami's demeanor , she clearly knew nothing about the forced meeting between Yandere-Chan and Megami's father, Yukio Saikou. Yet she seemed to be agitated just the same. Possibly in reaction to something Yukio had done to monitor or interefere with his daughter's life.

"We'll have to keep this talk brief," Yandere-Chan told Megami while they were walking down a sidewalk in the park. "Your father may have dispatched spies."

Megami snorted, then ridiculed the idea. "He is monitoring my emails and phone calls, that's why you haven't heard from me in a while, but even he knows better than to send spies on me."

"You underestimate him." Yandere-Chansaid, stopping in the middle of the path. "He dispatched his henchman and brought me to a lake house for a personal one on one talk."

Megami looked offended and her mouth fell open. "The lake house?! When was that? How dare he—"

Yandere-Chan raised her hands and made a soothing gesture and explained in great detail what had transpired between them. Concluding, she said, "He threatened me and promised to take you far away too."

As Yandere-Chan spoke, Megami was storming through circles on the narrow path, shaking her head in anger and banging her fists on a nearby tree.. "He can't do this!" he snarled. "He hasn't the right! I won't allow it! This is bullshit!"

Megami came to a sudden halt and turned to Yandere-Chan "You have to help me!"

"And how exactly can I help you?" Yandere-Chan asked. "Isn't he your father?"

"Tell me what to do! Tell me what you would do!"

Yandere-Chan shrugged her shoulders. "You could perhaps emancipate yourself?"

Megami frowned and shook her head. "I don't think I can do that. I'm stuck with the family until I'm twenty-one years old."

"The legalities don't interest me, and they shouldn't interest you. I mean free yourself from his iron grip, and choose a life for yourself."

"You mean disobey him?" asked Megami.

"If that's as far as you're willing to go." Yandere-Chan said with a serious look, then added "And without thought to consequences."

"I've wanted to …"

"The first step toward self-determination," Yandere-Chan said. "Then, you'll need just a little courage."

Megami shook her head "What would I do?"

"Do what ever you want to do. Haven't you always done what others made you do than choose for yourself? If the choice was yours and yours alone."

Megami hesitated then said. "You'll mock me..."

"Friends don't mock each other." Yandere-Chan said, gently placing a hand on Megami's shoulder. Megami winced as though she didn't like to be touched.

"I'm sorry it's just. I don't want to live an extraordinary life. I want to live as others live. I never asked to be born to the wealthiest family in Japan. I don't want the responsibilities."

Yandere-Chn regarded her. "How do you fancy yourself?"

Megami seemed to look embarrassed by the question. "I carry myself in such a way because it's what others would expect. I only meant that I want to live an ordinary life."

"Make no apologies for your desires."

Megami looked away.

"Why are you holding back? If you're going to dream, then make them happen." Yandere-Chan paused, then added, "You hinted that you had no interest in Saikou Corp. Is that true?"

Megami bit her lips. "yes, all I want is to settle down and live an ordinary life with a certain boy, Taro Yamada, who I have fallen in love with. I don't want to be forced into an arranged marriage with some freak."

Yandere-Chan came to a stop in the middle of the walkway. "How far are you willing to go?"

Megami glanced at her. "I'm willing to go as far as I should." She took a breath and continued. "I want out." Her face hardened. "I need out."

"If that can't happen, if you can't live an ordinary life with.. Senpai, what will you do?"

Megami stood her ground. "If not that then nothing. But I can't, father won't accept no for an answer."

Megami began to weep, with tears rolling down her face. Slowly, she rolled down the sleeves of her gloves, revealing the purple hues of bruises all over her body.

"Look what he's done!" Exclaimed Megami showing off the bruises on her arms. And legs.

"Your father..." Yandere-Chan said glancing over Megami's body. "Hits you?"

Megami nodded, and said as she was wiping her face. "Whenever he loses his temper in an argument."

Yandere-Chan nodded, and hugged Megami, who stopped then returned the embrace. "Suppose I said that I would be willing to be your ally in your time of need"

At a sudden loss for words, Megami stared at her, then she managed to say, "What would you expect of me in return?"

"Nothing more than that you commit to the idea that you free yourself. That you grant yourself the ability to do whatever is necessary to realize your dreams, at whatever risk to your well-being that this could incur."

"All right, I think I could do that," she said when a long moment of silence had happened.

The testing hall was chaotic with the coming and goings of students making their way through the halls between tests. In the central forum, Megami and fellow student council member, Shiromi Torayoshi, were comparing notes. The pair were discussing the next test when a Akademi employee interrupted them to say that Megami needed to return to the entrance of Akademi. The employee didn't know who had requested her presence or why, but no sooner had she entered the hallway than she recognized the stern face of one of the security guards her father employed

"Ms. Saikou will not be attending the final test." the guard told the employee.

Confused, Megami demanded to know why she had been removed from the exams.

"Your father is here," the guard said" He pointed through the window to the far side of the entrance to Academi where sat a sleek limousine, owned by Saikou Corps

Megami blinked in total surprise. "When did HE arrive?"

"An hour ago. Your mother and brother are also waiting for you."

"They didn't say anything to me about coming here."

"I wouldn't know about that," the guard said.

Megami glared at him. "Just following your orders, is that it?"

Undisturbed by Megami's outburst, the guard shrugged his shoulders. "It's my job, kid."

Surrendering to the inevitable but angered by the sudden change, Megami followed the guard outside to the Saikou's limousine. Yukio Saikou was waiting outside the sleek automobile.

"And Why wasn't I informed of this beforehand?" Megami demanded.

Her father nodded for the guard to show them to the car. "Your mother and brother are waiting at the airport."

"Airport?!" Megami asked incredulously.

Maneuvering around Megami, he slipped into the limousine. Strapped into a chair, she stewed through the ride in total silence as the car quickly sped past the school. Soon they had left Buraza Town , past the countryside, to the Saikou's private airport just outside Buraza. Soon they had cleared the security checkpoint and stopped ust short of a plane that had been waiting for them. Unfastening herself when the limousine had finally stopped, she stood up and they walked silently to the plane. Megami without a word had went to the back of the luxurious plane and closed herself in the private bed room. Within minutes the plane had powered up it's engines, and took off. Megami stared out the window as the ground gave way to the clouds of the sky.

"Our course is set for Kyoto." Yukio Saikou said barging into the room.

Megami stopped to stare at him.

"It's time we accelerated your future. You're going to be residing with the Kusha family. Clothes, your laptop, and other things we thought you'd like to have with you are already aboard." When Megami said nothing, he continued. "As ou may know, you've been arranged to be married to the Kusha's eldest son, Kaga. A change of scene will do you good and we thought it best you meet the family before the wedding."

"We? You decided this without conferring with me!" Megami managed to yell at last. "What about my university courses? What about my obligations to Akademi?"

"That has all been arranged. You can partner with Kaga in Kyoto."

Megami began shaking her head. "No... No…."

Her father's tone turned harsh and he glared at her. "This is for your own good. It's better you stay with him than certain friends of yours."

Megami's nostrils flared. "Father of lies," he muttered. "How would you even know what's good for me? Have you ever even cared to ask? friendship with Ayano Aishi, isn't it?"

The elder Palpatine snorted in derision. "Is that what you think it is? Ayano is probably using you as a means of securing information or finances from the Saikou Clan."

"No, she's not!"

Taken aback momentarily, Yukio said, "And yet you continue to … befriend her."

"What you consider some low-class girl, I consider Ayano Aishi a blessing. He's straight-forward, compassionate, and brilliant more so than you! Head and shoulders above you! Or any of your ilk."

Yukio's eyes glared again "It begins to sound to me that this confrontation goes beyond mere marriage arrangements."

"Of course it does! You're using any excuse you can to put me under your thumb again."

"Which wouldn't be necessary if you showed even the slightest ability to conduct yourself appropriately in the family name."

Megami waved her hand away. "My social infractions?! I refuse to go over old ground."

"You're easy on yourself."

"I've brought no more shame on the family than you have."

"We are not discussing me," Yukio said.

Megami threw up her hands. "All right! Fine! Leave me in Kyoto then, but I won't remain there."

"I can see to it personally that you do."

"By assigning some of your idiotic muscle heads to keep me in line? We both know I'm leagues smarter than them, Father."

Yukio made his lips a thin line. "After what you already did to counter my plans for the election, there can be no hint of scandal. Have you no idea what's at stake for Saikou and Japan?"

"And for you," Megami said, with a sly smile. "You've been planning to replace me with the son of your mistress, after putting me through a hellish childhood. Now that your boy out there" Megami pointed outside the door "Is being prepared to take over the company, while I get married off to a freak!"

Yukio flung his words with cruelty. "Oh, It will be so good to have you gone."

"Finally you admit it."

"Grandiose, as ever."

"You have no idea what I'm capable of. No one does."

Yukio exhaled deeply. "Yes, there it is that attitude I have been on the receiving end of for seventeen long years. As if you want to murder me. Murder has always been in your thoughts, hasn't it? You've merely been waiting for someone, like that friend of yours, to grant you permission to finally act on it."

Megami's face darkened. "I don't need anyone's permission, father."

"Precisely. You're a beast at heart."

"Queen of the beasts"

"Oh, now I know this day would come. I've known it since the first time I swaddled you, and you fought me then as you do now."

"I was born mature, Father, fully grown, and you hated me for it, because you grasped that I could everything you can never be."

"Hated you more than you know," Yukio nodded, allowing his anger to rise once more. "Enough to want to kill you from the start."

Megami braced herself and stood her ground. "Well we had better do it now."

Yukio raised his fists and marched towards Megami's direction, only to be slammed towards the door as Megami screamed and lunged towards him. She ducked his backhand as she made a side kick to his right knee, bringing the man down. Taking a bottle of red wine from a cooler near the bed, she raised the bottle and brought crashing down on the top of his head. Shards of glass flying everywhere and staining the carpet with red wine. A female voice from behind the closed hatch asked in distress, "What was that?"

Nursing an injured head, Yukio looked suddenly like a trapped animal, his eyes wide with surprise and fear. He made a move to open the door to escape, but Megami thwarted his efforts by grabbing his hand and violently twisting his index and middle fingers, Yukio fell over one of the a chairs, as his bloodied hand smeared the white leather.

A pounding began on the other side of the door

"Guards!" Yukio shouted, but the word had barely left his lips when Megami picked his head up and slammed him face-first to the glass covered floor and driving the breath from him.

Megami stood rooted in place, his hands trembling in front of him and his face stricken. Something stirred inside her. But then she heard the pounding on the door and turned around.

"Don't come in! Stay out!" she screamed

"What have you done?" It was her mother's voice, panicked. "What have you done?"

Yukio pushed himself to his knees and began a terrified retreat, leaving smears of blood on the floor. But Megami was advancing on him now.

"I curse this family!" Megami screamed. "I curse it!"

The door began to open and she heard the voice of the guard who had escorted her from Akademi High.

"Stop now!"

"Yukio!" his mother screamed.

Megami grabbed the guard's head with her hands, then in an eerie calm, twisted it snapping the guards neck and let him slump towards the floor.

Raising her face to the ceiling, she shouted, "You're all in this now!"

"His beloved face" Yandere-Chan said leaning over her desk, a picture of her beloved Senpai as the centerpiece. A freshly taken photo, all for the pleasure of her viewing, one day soon, he will be hers.

A sudden jingle (the very same cell phone jingle that Senpai used) was able to shake through to Yandere-Chan, breaking her concentration on the photo. "Was it Senpai?" Yandere-Chan asked herself as she picked up the mobile device.

"No. The Saikou girl." Yandere-Chan rolled her eyes, as she thought the final rival had been removed from her life.

Yandere-Chan pressed the accept button on the device. They hadn't spoken since the Megami had left for the day.

"Where are you?" Megami asked as though in a panic.

"I'm at home," Yandere-Chan said in clear distraction, her gaze looking over the photo of Senpai.

"I'm… I'm at the house… the family house."

"Isn't it a little late for a social call Megami?" Yandere-Chan asked

Megami made a sucking sound "I'm coming over to pick you up, I … I need to talk to someone."

"Tell me, has something happened?"

TheMegami took in a deep breath. "My… my.. father arrived unexpectedly on Akademi. He had me taken from the school to the family plane. My mother and half-brother were already aboard. After we had taken off I learned that I was being taken to Kyoto to be married off to the school's freak We fell into an argument … then, I'm not sure what happened, I … just… just lost control for once in my life."

"Tell me what happened," Yandere-Chan demanded.

"I killed him!" Megami snapped back. "I killed them. I killed everyone, even the guards. I don't know Ayano-Chan. I need help! It's the end of the line for me! The end of the line!"

Unbeknownst to Megami Saikou, at that very moment, Yandere-Chan was smiling to herself, knowing fully well that at last Senpai will at last be hers.