Upon reaching her house, Kinu let herself in. The moment she started down the hallway, her dad rounded the corner.
"You! Where the hell'ave you been?!"
Glancing at the man, Kinu froze in place. He stopped only an inch away, and she frowned. He did not smell like alcohol, but he was undeniably drunk. Peculiar. Tilting her head to the side, she studied the man. His hair was wet, and he had a pair of jeans on. Kinu placed a hand on his shoulder, and patted the man.
"Good job."
"Huh? D- Don't try to change the subject! W- Where's my breakfast!?"
Frowning, Kinu stared up at the man.
"You haven't drank it yet?"
"What?! Why- you!"
Before the man could so much as move, Kinu dashed to her room. She locked the door behind herself, hearing her dad stumble after her. When the man reached the door behind her, Kinu placed her back against it. He twisted the doorknob, and pounded his fists against the wood, and Kinu almost felt like laughing. Then she saw it.
Her window was wide open. A phone laid on the floor beside her bed, and a note rested on her pillow. A few of her clothes laid in disarray on the floor, like somebody had ransacked her closet. Frowning, Kinu tuned out the shouting beyond the door, and walked to her window. She closed it, and turned to the note. As the girl unfolded the paper, large angry words met her eyes.
"Where did you sleep last night"
Everything was underlined, multiple times, and Kinu stared at the words. Shrugging it off, the girl grabbed the phone by her bed and opened it. She was immediately met with a picture of her own sleeping face. Okay... Creepy.
The picture had been taken at nighttime, on the porch. Kinu's heart started to pound as she scrolled through the phone. Maybe this explained the random calls she received from time to time. The girl never answered them, simply because she did not speak to anybody. If it was not the school, Ginpachi, the old man or her mother calling, she ignored her phone. All unknown numbers were dismissed as telemarketers. The one call she did answer turned out to be Takasugi.
Scrolling through the phone, she decided to check out the pictures. The moment the screen popped up, she found herself sleeping, walking and eating pocky. There were pictures of her standing at her locker, and at the desk of the watch shop. One picture showed her walking into the girls bathroom, pushing the door open with one hand. Close-ups of her sleeping face. Her nails, her hair, arms, and legs in her school uniform. An attempt at an up-skirt, which (thankfully) didn't turn out well.
Hundreds of pictures of her. Most horribly timed, at that. Like eating chicken, with rice stuck to her face. Pictures showing the crack of her curtains, and aimed at her bed. This was alarming, for lack of a better word. Where the hell was this stalker? Disgusted, the girl exited out of the pictures. That was too much... She decided to look through the contacts, and messages, hoping to put a name to the weirdo.
No texts.
The only data in the phone was the pictures, and one phone number.
The name that the number was filed over was titled "Kitty". Curiosity washed over Kinu, and she pressed the send button, hoping got recognize the voice, or something. It seemed like a stupid idea, but it was the only way she could think to find an answer.
Moments passed, as the dial tone sounded. Kinu waited, and much to her surprise, her own phone started to vibrate in her bag. Her dad was still yelling in some unknown corner of the house; he had given up on her door only minutes before. Thank Ginpachi for re-enforcing that thing. Grabbing her phone, Kinu stared at the screen. Well, no doubt about it, this was her telemarketer's phone.
Immediately nervous, the girl tucked the phone into her school bag. She turned it off, and vowed to show Ginpachi, or Takasugi. Probably Ginpachi, because Takasugi would just laugh at the ugly pictures. For some reason, she didn't want that. If anything, she wanted him to consider her attractive, despite her constant air of gloom, and silence. At least he didn't treat her like a ghost. Moreover, she did not feel like one around him ether...
Standing up, the girl opted to grab an outfit. If she was a little late to work, that would be okay. As she moved to her closet. her foot slipped on something. Whatever she had just come in contact with was sticky and cold. The girl caught her balance just in time, and gazed at the fabric beneath her foot. Utterly confused, she picked up a pair of her underwear and cautiously eyed it. Only a few seconds were needed to realize what she was looking at.
A dirty pair of underwear, covered in white, sticky goo. Horrified the girl flung the panties across the room and jumped back. That definitely did not come out of her! Dragging her foot across the hardwood Kinu felt herself gag. This was not happening. That was not semen. It couldn't be. Nevertheless, the appalled sense of violation, which had settled over the girl, suggested otherwise.
Kinu grabbed the first pair of clothes she saw, and darted from the room. Suddenly, being beaten did not seem so bad. The girl rushed through her shower, and dressed herself. After shoving a few necessary items into a small purse, she started towards the door.
"OI! You! Cook some fucking dinner!"
Halting in the doorway, Kinu turned to face her father. He was standing in the middle of the room, holding a large glass bottle. The man glared at her, and Kinu returned his gaze.
"It's morning..."
The moment the words escaped her, a liquor bottle was flying towards her head. Kinu narrowly escaped the glass, and it burst into a million shards behind her. When the girl ducked, her father took the time to charge her.
Okay, so she was making dinner.
At the watch shop, Kinu stood behind the counter, waiting for a customer. Gengai had left her pay, conveniently stuffed in an envelope, with a note which read, "You earned it, and here's a small advance for tending the shop while I'm gone". Sure enough, the man had left her a nice chunk of extra pay. The girl tidied up the storefront, and laid out new display cases, and watches. With Gengai gone, it seemed unnervingly quiet. She didn't want to be alone. Hours passed, with a minimum amount of customers. Turning to the back room Kinu decided to do what she had seen Gengai do so many times before. The girl turned on a radio and sat on a stool at the counter.
Completely bored, Kinu peered out of the two large windows exposing the street. An occasional car passed, and the girl watched each one. Slight movement caught her eye, and she peered at the ally. Holding a pocky stick to her lips, Kinu stared at said ally, waiting for an explanation. When she found nothing, she returned her bored gaze to the store across the street. They didn't seem to be getting much business either. Another slow motion caught her eye, and she spied the creepy watch guy in the ally. He wasn't moving. Simply staring at her. She was sure he noticed her looking at him.
The man remained in place, allowing his golden eyes to pierce Kinu. His dark hair gently swayed in what she could only assume to be a short-lived breeze, but he still did not move. He wasn't coming in today. Simply standing there. A few more hours passed, and the two remained the same. Kinu decided to try to ignore him. She looked at everything humanly possible. New watches. An old magazine. She took apart a model watch, and put it back together.
When she finished he was still there. Falling into panic, the girl rushed to the door of the shop. She locked it from the inside, and let the blinds down. Who needs light? There were lights inside of the store somewhere... After searching the walls, Kinu found a switch. When the artificial light poured over the room, the girl sighed. So she had escaped that man. Somewhat.
The girl resolved to unlock the door for any customers, and play it safe for the rest of the day. She still had to walk home, but she was sure everything would be okay. Right? He was just a creepy guy, who gave her the creeps... Fitting, for a creepy guy.
The rest of her workday seemed to drag on, but once night had fallen, and Kinu started home, the girl felt safe with her new knife. She stopped by a grocery store, to grab a few ingredients for the dinner she would prepare the next day, and rushed to her house.