Yako broke up with Neuro and she's out to teach him a lesson in what pain is. She intends to use a recipe from a myth and just received a package from her cousin Yukari, which she hopes contains an angel's feather to complete the concoction. Mystery is missing and Neuro can't track him down due to his scent being hidden by the unnatural rain.
Mystery 29: Hurt the One You Love
"That was fast," Kanae had heard about rush deliveries being made by the next day, but if this was the package Yako requested from her cousin a few hours ago, the speed of the delivery had reached a new record. The sender's name on the box clearly read Yukari Katsuragi and from what Kanae had heard, Yukari was always traveling in far away lands.
"Yeah," Yako rushed to open the package, ripping the wrapping apart ferociously.
"Is there food in there?" Kane laughed.
"Huh? Oh, no," Yako laughed nervously, only food could make her open a box with such extreme need. Than she saw them, not one but a dozen beautiful pure white feathers nestled in a sky blue silk handkerchief with a note between them. Yako recognized Yukari's handwriting right away.
'Hi Yako!
I don't know how you found out about my connections, but keep it a secret. We'll have to talk about this; you're better informed than I thought. I'll go visit sometime.
Love,
Yukari'
"They're beautiful!" Kanae gasped, awe by the gorgeous feathers.
Yako took a feather and gave it to her friend, "these are angel's feathers, keep this one as a lucky charm."
Kanae held the soft feather, everything about it was perfect, the shape, the soft texture more pleasant than anything she had ever felt and even the gentle scent they held was ideal. "Thank you, it's so beautiful I almost believe it really came from an angel."
Yako smiled knowingly, those feathers really must have come from an angel; an angel disguised as a mailman perhaps. She would have a long talk with Yukari sometime and find out how she met that angelic man. Yako wondered what Yukari would say if she knew about Neuro. It was ironic, if anyone saw the two cousins, they would guess that Yako would be the one to befriend the angel and Yukari would end up finding the most mischievous of Neuro's kind, but that's not how it took place, perhaps opposites attract.
xoxox xox xoxox
That night, while Kanae surrendered to an exhausted deep sleep and her parents were also in slumber land, Yako borrowed the kitchen to prepare the strange concoction that would serve as the device for her vengeance.
"Let's see, peal and mash the banora," Yako wanted to eat the fruit herself, those blue apples were rare and expensive, but she followed the recipe nonetheless. The banora had left her emergency savings account in zero after spending the amount which translated to seven hundred and seventy-seven euros on it. She didn't know what she was going to do about living expenses for the next couple of months, but she let the rush guide her and purchased the uncommon imported delicacy.
"Add three spoons of sugar and seven spoons of honey. Put the angel's feather in the mix and it will dissolve into it with the heat. Place the recipe in the oven at seven hundred and seventy-seven degrees for seven minutes." Yako followed the instructions flawlessly and when she opened the oven, there was a lovely cookie where she had previously left a pile of white mush.
She waited for it to cool off, but found it was unnecessary, since cookie itself seemed to sooth the temperature around it to a pleasant level. The cookie was a pure white, as if it were made of cream or sugar, though the consistency seemed spongy like a cake. It was about half an inch thick and three inches wide and tall, perfectly circular.
Upon closer examination, Yako noticed a beautiful feathery pattern engraved in the ivory cookie. The scent was beyond anything she had ever perceived before. It took every once of self-control she didn't even know she had to resist eating it. This was for Neuro, it was for his own good, so he would learn to be nice, yet all thoughts of vengeance and anger disappeared when taking in the scent of the cookie.
Before she changed her mind, Yako set off to find Neuro, leaving a note for Kanae in case she didn't return before her friend woke up.
xoxox xox xoxox
Yako first checked the office but found it empty, neither Godai nor Akane were there. That was odd, since Akane was usually in the office if not with her.
Yako then headed to her apartment to find the place in chaos. She began to straighten up the mess, but stopped when she felt a presence watching her and turned to stare into a pair of menacing glowing green eyes.
"You have been quite troublesome slave," Neuro growled.
Yako could feel Neuro's temper heating up, she should have been frightened, but the scent of the cookie somehow escaped the sealed plastic bag in her pocket and calmed her. She wondered if Neuro could smell it, how could she get him to eat it? Furthermore, what if the cookie said to have miraculous healing properties in humans caused more than just pain to Neuro, what if the effects were fatal?
"I... um..." Yako took the plastic bag from her pocket and opened it, holding up the cookie. "This is..." She neglected to form a plan, maybe because deep down she knew she could never do anything to hurt Neuro, she was too nice, too merciful, too forgiving.
Neuro recognized the scent of the cookie, banora mixed with an angel's feather, flavored in sweetness. Didn't Yako know what such a thing did to his kind? Did she have the guts to try to make him eat it? No, it didn't look like she was going to attempt to force the lethal cookie down his throat and condemn him to seven days of fragility and agony, during which he would not only suffer, but also be exposed to be easily killed even by her limited human strength. He was strong; a lesser being would die instantly after ingesting such a dangerous device.
Even if she didn't go through with it, Yako still deserved a scare for going as far as having the cookie in her possession. Neuro took a piece of the cookie, breaking off a perfect fourth of it. "What a mysterious scent this cookie has, but cookies are human food; you should eat it and tell me how it tastes."
He brushed the piece of cookie against her lips and that's all the motivation Yako needed to voraciously bite it, nearly biting Neuro's fingers in the process. To say the cookie was heavenly was an understatement, it was beyond words. Yako was in pure bliss, her body felt in perfect health and the exhaustion of a day of studying was completely gone. She was energetic, calm, in a good mood, perceptive and in absolute joy.
Then Neuro kissed her, which increased her happiness even more, but also brought confusion. Yako didn't understand; had her break up with Neuro been forgiven? Had that been enough to teach him a lesson? He was Neuro, Yako knew him better than that, how could the thought of losing her affect him that much? Was that even possible?
When they parted, Yako felt's Neuro's weight, as if he was using her for support. "The taste of the cookie was still in your lips, what a strange taste; it makes me curious about what it could be..."
Yako's eyes widened. She sealed the plastic bag with the remaining three fourths of the cookie and shoved it in her pocket.
"Yako... Something doesn't feel right..." Neuro closed his eyes and collapsed in the arms of a panicked Yako.
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I don't own Neuro. The fruit called banora is a reference to the dumb apples of Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core.
