Chapter 2

„Taiga, wake up! " A nudged his fiancé gently. "You don't wanna sleep through your birthday, do you?" Taiga slowly opened her eyes, looking at A begrudgingly. Her frown soon faded when she saw A standing before her, with a tablet containing all of Taigas favorite food. "Now you're finally 21, my dear Taiga." A laid the tablet down on the small table next to the bed and sat beside his fiancé. Taiga embraced him in a light hug and said quietly into his ear "Thank you, A. Now it's not long till we are finally married. Only one and a half months." Taiga pecked him on the cheek and began devouring the food A served her with all his love.

A lot has happened since A moved in with Taiga. After graduation, A decided to live together with Yasuko and Taiga in their small dusty apartment. He quickly found a job as a ramen cook downtown. Old Tetsumishi-san, an old accomplice of his parents, gave A a chance and he took it with both hands, quickly becoming one of Tetsumishi-sans most trusted ramen cooks. Taiga on the other hand struggled at finding a meaningful job at first, seemingly lacking the motivation to find her real purpose until Yasuko brought a small, red haired guy from Bristol named James along. James was a customer at Yasuko's workplace and they both instantly connected with each other. Taiga was wary of James at first, because she knew how Yasuko often rushed into things without thinking them through but James turned out to be a decent guy after all, he even went so far to propose to Yasuko, which after a bit of thinking, she gladly accepted. After James' trip to Japan got to an end, Yasuko went back to Bristol with him to prepare for the wedding, leaving Taiga and A in their own apartment for the very first time. James got word that Taiga was still in search of a job, so he offered her to help him out with some simple computer projects here and there for the company. Taiga accepted his offer because she could work from home and even learn some English.

"So nice of your parents to invite us. I've never had birthday parties when I was a child, so this is pretty exciting for me." "Are you kiddin'? My parents would do anything for you, they were so proud when I finally got a girlfriend!" A said while thinking about what socks he should wear when going to his parents. After some pondering, he decided to settle on the black socks with two white stripes on each side. "I wonder if they baked vanilla cake." Taiga wondered. "Vanilla?" "Heck yeah, I love vanilla!" "I never knew that about you, I wonder what other secrets you hide. "A asked teasingly.

Taiga put on a thinking face." I don't know, but I like putting whipped cream on other people's faces." Before he knew it, Taiga viciously attacked him smearing whipped cream, which originally laid on top of the pancakes A prepared for Taiga's birthday breakfast, onto his nose. "Now you started a war." A said menacingly. He also grabbed some of the whipped cream and tried booping it on Taiga's nose, making a mess on the tatami in the process. Taiga fled from the Tatami, knocking over the kotatsu and broke down laughing. "What's gotten into you? Look, you knocked everything over." A asked while also laughing. A also stood up from the messy tatami and started picking up the things that fell over. He picked up the expensive wrist watch his father gave to him, when A broke the news of him and Taiga being engaged. "You really think it's gonna last more than 4 months?" The harsh voice of A's father echoed in his mind. "You wish" A mumbled lost in thought. "Oh crap!" A snapped out of his thought when he noticed the time on the clock. "We gotta hurry or else we'll be late. We still have to shower." A put on a smirk while glancing over to Taiga. "Let's shower together and I'll give you the rest of your birthday present." He took Taiga's hand and led her to the bathroom.

"Home at last, home at last." Taiga and A returned home after they spent a cheerful day with A's parents. A was about to go to the toilet, when he noticed his towel used earlier when showering was missing. "Taiga, did you take my towel?" "No, why in the world should I take you towel?" Taiga asked bewildered. "I don't know. Point is, it's not here anymore." A pointed at the spot where the towel was supposed to be, matter-of-factly. "Hmm that's strange. I noticed a lot of strange things happening around here lately, like the windows being slightly ajar or my laptop being in different places even though I never even put it there. Come to think of it, ever since I lost the keys again."

"Why didn't you tell me you lost the keys again?" A yelled. "Because I knew you would react like you do now." Taiga defended. "I have every right to be angry, do you really think it's not a coincidence that the moment you lose your keys, things start disappearing from our house or change the location?" "Are you implying that someone is breaking into our apartment? "Taiga asked A. "You don't know what kind of creeps are lurking out there, like Tsutomu Miyazaki." "Look, it doesn't matter." Taiga walked over to A, putting an arm around him." We'll just change the keys if it makes you feel safer." A leaned into Taiga and quietly insisted "First thing tomorrow morning."

"There, as good as new." A exclaimed proudly, while wearing his green tracksuit with two white stripes on each side. "I'm still thinking you're overreacting." Taiga said with her arms crossed. "You never know, you have to be extra careful in this kind of situation." "Spare me your lecture! Ho-…" Taiga was interrupted

"Greetings!" A familiar voice made the couple flinch. The two turned around and were greeted by their former classmate and A's former lover Mayuko Matsushita. "You guys still live here?" Taiga and A could only nod. They hadn't seen each other since the second year of high school, because Mayuko transferred schools after everything that happened. "What are you doing here? We haven't seen each other in ages." A was perplexed. "I live here." She happily pointed at the big apartment complex, next to Taiga's and A's apartment, Taiga's old apartment. "Wow really? That's the apartment where Taiga used to live." "Is that so? What a small world, I guess. Anyway ..." "About what happened..." A awkwardly tried to form an apology for what happened, but was quickly shushed by Mayuko in return. "Oh, don't mention it I'm over it. And besides, I've found someone new as well. His name is Yugi. It's his apartment and I moved in with him recently. Perhaps you've seen him around already."

"Yugi huh? Never heard of him." Taiga also shook her head. Ever since Taiga moved out, the curtain to her old apartment stayed firmly shut, because it reminded her of the many times she stood at her window, facing Ryuuji talking about all kinds of stuff. "What, you haven't seen him yet? That sounds like we should have dinner together, so I could introduce him properly. How about this Friday at you place?" A and Taiga were taken off guard but reluctantly gave in, feeling they have to make it up to Mayuko. "Great, I'll see you guys then!" Mayuko smiled and made her way home. "Mayuko sure seems happy. Good for her." A said. "I don't know, she seems a little bit off, doesn't she? Almost a little bit too happy." Taiga mumbled.

"How do I look?" A said to Taiga while looking at himself in the mirror, applying some hair gel he bought at the convenient store, trying to make his white mohawk even more spiky. "Taiga started laughing uncontrollably "You look like an idiot. Here let me do it." A bent down so Taiga could reach his hair and She started to rub the gel to and fro on his head until his hair wasn't a mohawk anymore, but nicely spread all over his head, giving him a conventional hairstyle for the first time since he was 9 years old. "There, now you have something truly special… in your case anyway." Taiga said nonchalantly, washing the leftover gel from her hands. "I don't know if I like it, I'm not feeling comfortable with this hairdo." "Well, that's too bad you're stuck with it now. Come on, we still gotta prepare the table. Mayuko and her boyfriend will be here shortly! Put the rice in the rice frying machine and I'll lay the cutlery on the table." "Your wish is my command." A said while giving Taiga a salute, which resulted in Taiga punching him in the arm.

"Now is not the time to be joking around. I still find it odd that Mayuko's suddenly living right next to us with some dubious guy and I don't really feel like having them in our apartment." Taiga exclaimed seriously and put some knives and forks on the kotatsu. "Don't worry maybe they'll be alright, you don't know her boyfriend." A tried to reassure her. "Why does she want to meet us so bad, considering everything that happened back in high school? She even transferred schools for the third year remember?" Taiga pointed out. "That's true but maybe she just wants to make peace. You don't think she's trying to start some funny business, do you?" "I don't know." Taiga sighed.

UIUAA "Oh shit the doorbell! That must be them." A sprinted to the entrance door and opened it, after taking a deep breath.

"Wow the rice is so delicious A, just like when I first went over to your place and we had to eat out of a bowl." Mayuko laughed. A rubbed his neck awkwardly. "Uhm... so Yugi, right?" "Yeah, my name is Yugi, thanks for the invitation. Mayuko told me about all the fun you had back in high school." A and Taiga glanced at each other. "Did she also tell him that we betrayed her?" A thought to himself. "And what do you do for a living?" Taiga asked trying to break the awkward tension building in the room. "I'm a freelancer. I'm working on some computer projects." "Oh really? Me too!" Taiga answered. "Are you working in the real estate field as well?" Yugi took a moment to swallow his rice before he answered. "No, I am working for different companies designing websites and logos. That kind of stuff. I'm also involved with some crypto stuff" "Oh, I see, that sound interesting." "Yeah, isn't he such a creative and handsome guy this Yugi?" Mayuko interrupted their conversation. She gave him a deep, intimate kiss which caught him off guard and seemed very inappropriate given the current situation. "Woah, save some for later!" Yugi laughed, trying to play it off but his surprise clearly shimmered through. "You must excuse me, I have to use the restroom. "Mayuko suddenly said. A still stunned by her sudden action, snapped out of his trance and pointed Mayuko in the direction of the bathroom.

Yugi took a sip of his still water. "So, I heard you two are going to be married? That's very early, you don't hear that every day." "Yeah, what can I say. It is what it is." A said unsure of what to answer. He knew Taiga was still grieving over the tragic death of her first boyfriend, she even kept a framed picture of him on the cupboard beside the kotatsu. A understood that even though he knew she loved him, her heart would never be completely owned by him, how could it?

Mayuko reappeared from the restroom and took her seat next to Yugi. "By the way, how did you two meet?" Taiga was keen on knowing the answer to this through and through and undoubtedly very complex question. "In the Pilates course. She followed me home one day and just asked me out, funny right?" Yugi laughed at his fond memory. "And I would never give you away for anything on this planet." Mayuko wrapped her arms around him and cuddled into his neck, while stealing glances at A. Taiga who noticed that suddenly yelled "Excuse me but you gotta go now. I forgot, I have to get up very early tomorrow. I have an online meeting with James." "But your free tomorr…" Taiga interrupted him with a heavy stomp on his foot. The room was silent for few moments before Yugi said "Alright we can just pick up where we left off another time then." "Yeah, it was really funny thank you for coming guys." Taiga rushed them out of the door without them even being able to put on their respective eiderdown winter coats. "And besides. We're in the midst of summer, why are you wearing winter coats?" Taiga yelled after them and slammed the door shut.

Taiga walked back into the bedroom, where she heard A already taking off his dining clothes with two white stripes on each side. "What's gotten into you suddenly?" A asked her after he heard her entering the room. "Why did you kick them out?" "Because something's off with Mayuko. She was behaving erratically and did you see the way she started staring at you when she hugged Yugi?" Taiga was worried. "What do you mean staring at me? I feel like she was just happy to spend time with us and maybe become friends again. "A countered. "You're so oblivious." Taiga threw her arms in the air but stopped in her tracks. "Did you leave my laptop slightly ajar?" Taiga asked dangerously. "No, I would never, I'm not allowed to touch your computer I've learned the hard way last time." A said still wearing the scars from his punishment. "Mayuko!" Taiga whispered, not even reacting to A's answer. "It must have been her when she said she had to use the restroom, because I clearly remember leaving it on the edge of the bed and not on the table nearby and you know what I think about keeping laptops slightly ajar." "If you really think it was her, what do you wanna do about it? Confront her?" A asked. "I don't know yet. I have to sleep over it. Speaking of which, I'm really tired let's just go to bed and think of a solution tomorrow." Taiga yawned and the couple went to sleep.

*O-O-OMOSCH*

A and Taiga got waken up by the eerie sound of A's new alarm clock. "Good morning beautiful" A slowly opened his eyes to see the smiling face of his fiancé next to him. "Good morning…" A was still half asleep as he was trying to get himself out of the bed. A quick glance at the time jolted him wide awake. "Oh crap, it's 7 already, I gotta get to work: If I'm late again Tetsumishi-san won't let it slide this time." He swiftly made his way out of the bed, careful not to disturb the already fallen asleep again Taiga. He showered quickly without drying his hair, since it's July the morning sun would dry his hair on his way to work. He put on a pair of his trusty Tommy Hilfiger jeans with two white stripes on each side and a Madcap Moss cap, he picked up at the latest house show, which nicely accompanied his Liv Morgan shirt he wore under a grey 'Hustle, Loyalty, Respect' sweater. He didn't have time to eat proper breakfast, so he would pick up a snack on his way to work. He went back into the bedroom and knelt down beside Taiga and gently nudged her. "I'm off to work now, I hope you have a great day." A softly said into her ear and kissed the side of her head. She heard A closing the front door quietly. A minute or so later the door swung open, creating a loud crashing noise that could be heard even at Kasumigaseki station. A recklessly rushed back into the apartment, holding some kind of paper, knocking over the kotatsu in the process. "What's up with you all of a sudden?" Taiga yelped in surprise. A's hands were shaking visibly and tears streamed down his cheek silently. "I.. I've found this note outside all over the place." A stuttered. "Which note? What do you mean?" Taiga was puzzled, she's never seen A like this before. "Brace yourself." A slowly handed the note to Taiga. She unfolded the paper, revealing the headline: 'Are you looking for a naughty schoolgirl? Contact this public slut at +8151-700-4369' with a private picture, A took of Taiga the day after graduation. It showed her with exposed skin and playing with herself.

Taigas eyes widened to its fullest extend and tears were running down her face. "What did you mean by all over the place?" Taiga asked quietly. "I don't know but they are all over the street." A was breathing really heavy now. "What kind of sick freak would do something like this? And how did they get this picture, it was only on your laptop, right?" A asked. His face was crimson red by now and he was clutching his chest. It almost seemed like he was fainting. "I'll tell you who it was, Mayuko!" Taiga says, her voice hoarse from her soundless crying. "Ou!? Mayuko?" A was confused. Why would Mayuko do something like that and how would she have gotten the picture in the first place? "It must have been when she and Yugi came over for dinner, when she excused herself to use the restroom. Remember that my laptop was left lying on the bed slightly ajar?" "But what does she have to gain by doing this?" But Taiga didn't even listen to A anymore, as she jumped out of the bed and started thrashing their apartment destroying everything she could, even the framed picture of her late ex-boyfriend. "Taiga? TAIGA! Stop it!" A tried to talk some sense into her. "Let's just ask her, I'm sure she wouldn't do something like that." Taiga stopped ripping the kotatsu apart and said "Good idea, let's give a little visit." She went and grabbed her wooden sword. The last time she used it was over two years ago when she broke into A's apartment, when he was still living with his parents. "No wait that's not what I meant!" A yelled after her, but she was already out the door. All hell was about to break loose and he knew it, so he quickly raced after her.

Taiga marched over to her old apartment, completely ignoring the other notes that were hanging from trees, lampposts and even on the front door of most of the apartments on the street. "Taiga, wait up" A tried to stop her and he finally caught up to her right before the entrance door to Mayuko's apartment. "Please think this through, you might do something you later regret, we don't even know for sure yet if Mayuko is behind all this!" A pleaded. Taiga hesitated and glanced at the door and noticed it was slightly ajar and then looked back at A, who still wore this sorrowful expression on his face. After looking between A and the door, she finally lowered her weapon and sighed. "You're right, let's try to collect all of the remaining notes and think of a solution after that." A gave her a tight hug and they embraced for a while, until Taiga's phone suddenly rang. "Who is this?" A creepy voice could be heard. "Is this the naughty schoolgirl slut? Are you looking to get your ass railed?" Taiga threw her phone on the ground in a fit of rage and stormed Mayuko's apartment with A closely behind.

After the two of them entered the apartment, they noticed that neither Mayuko nor Yugi appeared to be present. After Taiga looked around in the living room she knew so well and called out to Mayuko a couple of times. She seemed to be thinking about what to do next. "If that's how she wants to play, I'll leave her a little message." Taiga said. With a swift swing of her sword, the wooden blade came crashing down onto the big glass table in the living room, shattering it into a million glass pieces. "Are you insane?!" A shouted. He grabbed a hold of Taiga and shook her. "You don't even know if she is responsible for anything. Yet you still go ahead and destroy her table. How could you?" A was yelling at Taiga. A could only notice a thud behind them, before something dull hit his head before he was knocked out cold.

A's world was spinning. He didn't know where up and down was and his head felt like it had been split open. He opened his eyes but he couldn't see. He tried to move, but noticed his hands were cuffed to something. "Taiga! Taiga where are you?!" "Oh good, you're finally awake. I've prepared something special just for you." Mayuko's voice echoed through the room. He felt the hood being lifted from his face and once the blinding lights dissipated, he could see Mayuko staring at him with a twisted grin. "I'm going to cleanse your soul from this pest." She said and pointed to Taiga. A's eyes widened in horror, when he saw Taiga hanging naked on a rope from the ceiling upside down. How could he have been so naïve? He should have called the police instead of letting Taiga storm the apartment in some crusade for self-justice. "What the hell did you do to her. Let her down THIS INSTANCE!" A demanded. "Such strong words for someone who is tied to a chair." Mayuko laughed. "W- Why?!" A said weakly and his lips started trembling. "What are you planning to do to her? What do you mean by cleanse?" "She ruined our relationship, can't you see? She ruined everything. And for that, she has to suffer." "But why? Didn't you tell us the other day you were over it? And what about Yugi?" A felt like his world was falling apart. He didn't understand why she would behave so drastically. "Are you this gullible? It was all a ruse. Have you never noticed that every once in a while, some of your belongings went missing? They are all here." She pointed to a table in the far corner, where A's boxers with two white stripes on each side, which were worn by him the first time he slept with Mayuko, among other things like his Big Show tee, he thought he lost, rested. Luckily this stupid girl is as klutzy as she was back in school, so I didn't even have to break into your apartment because I could just use the keys she lost one day, that way I could enter your apartment as often as I wanted. By the way its not smart not to lock your laptop with a password either. How do you like the little ad I've spread around the neighborhood?" Mayuko asked and laughed maniacally. "You're absolutely insane!" A screamed. "Insane? No. Determined? Yes!" Mayuko quickly shot back. "Enough dilly dalling, let's start what we came here for, shall we?" Mayuko walked over to the table in the far corner of the room and revealed a Santoku knife, A was all too familiar with from his job at the ramen store. Without much hesitation she walked over to the dazed Taiga and started slicing the knife across her belly. Taiga started to cry, as blood began dripping down her body and onto the floor. The crazy white-haired girl continued to assault the defenseless Taiga, with the knife slicing her on the arms and legs as well, as more blood began to seep down her prone body. A couldn't believe it. How can his perfect world be turned upside down with one flip of a switch? He tried to break free of his restraints, but to no avail. All he could do was sit on the chair and watch along as Mayuko laid down below Taiga and let the blood drip onto her face and her top. He felt nauseous and almost threw up. Mayuko turned and looked up at A with a huge smile on her face she always had, back when her and A were still dating. She stood up and walked over to A and gave him a relentless kiss, forcing her tongue into his mouth. To his disgust, he immediately tasted the blood of Taiga which Mayuko must have held in her mouth. "I'm gonna save us from this world, A! After I'm through with her I will give us salvation." "Mayuko must have completely lost her mind!" A thought. She went back over to Taiga and easily cut the rope which held Taiga upside down, making her crash right onto her face rather unceremoniously. Taiga laid motionlessly in her own pool of blood. "A.." was all she could muster. All of this was too much to bear for A. The sight of his fiancé bleeding out on the floor in front of him and her blood in his own mouth, made him throw up until he started choking. This, combined with his wound from the blow to the back of his head earlier, made him black out again.

I failed you…

"Taiga, wake up! We are here Taiga!"

"Huh... what?"

Taiga rubbed her eyes and noticed her fingers were wet. She was crying.

"Are you okay?" Ryuuji asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Ryuuji?" Taiga gave Ryuuji the biggest hug she ever gave someone, crying into his neck and holding on for dear life.

"Woah, what's gotten into you, did you have a bad dream? We noticed you fell asleep half way through the trip so we let you sleep."

"No, I just had the weirdest dream. I should stop watching all those yandere anime." Taiga muttered groggily.

"Okey, you can tell me all about it after we checked into our hotel room. Let's go."

Ryuuji reached his hand out smiling and grabbed Taiga's as they walked towards the hotel.

Taiga finally was alive.