"Uhhhh... ?"

Yukiteru Amano was seated on the floor of the hotel room he now shared with Yuno Gasai — part of an attempt to stay off the Eleventh diary owner's radar. Yuki had Yuno's latest script for their activities open on his lap. And it was that script which prompted Yuki to involuntarily make the "Uhhh... ?" sound just a moment ago.

This was the second time she'd written out what she wanted him to say and do. That morning's meeting with the other diary owners in the Cathedral of Causality had gone perfectly thanks to her first effort, but her "sequel" script demanded a lot more from Yuki than just delivering dialogue and posing dramatically.

Yuki was still decked out in the same clothes he'd worn for his dramatic morning performance, but Yuno wasn't even fully dressed anymore. She'd taken off the dress she wore to that meeting and was now lounging on the hotel bed in a nightshirt and some light blue panties. Currently, she was laying on her stomach with her feet up in the air as she flipped through TV stations using the remote. Every time she hit a news program, she paused for a moment to determine what they were talking about. Yuki figured she was probably hoping to glean some new information about Sakurami City's mayor — the Eleventh diary owner.

The level of comfort Yuno exhibited in wearing so little in Yuki's presence was diametrically opposed to Yuki's feelings on the subject. Yuno sometimes got undressed in front of him without warning, whereas Yuki still went into the bathroom and shut the door before changing his clothes. As far as he was concerned, it was inappropriate and invasive to do anything else. After all, in spite of Yuno's (repeated) suggestions, it's not like they were intimate with each other.

None of which was to say Yuki didn't somewhat enjoy Yuno's state of dress... or even her general invasiveness. At least those things distracted him from the events of a few days ago. His father, the police officers, all the blood — he was trying not to think about any of it.

Unfortunately, this script Yuno had written wasn't helping on that front. To say it gave Yuki pause was to wildly understate his feelings. But in spite of the horror he felt at what Yuno was asking him to do, Yuki didn't want to upset her. He knew how much his praise of her first script had meant to her, after all.

"Um, Yuno?" Yuki called delicately. He clambered onto his knees before he finished, "I'm... really not comfortable with this."

Yuno turned her head to look over at him. She made a questioning "Hmm?" sound as she lowered the volume on the TV. She sat up and pivoted to face him, asking, "What do you mean?"

"What?" Yuki said back. Briefly, he chuckled in disbelief. Then his eyebrows drew together and lowered on his face. "What do I mean?" he repeated. He held her script up and gestured at it with his free hand. "You're asking me to, to slaughter orphans!" His eyes widened as he insisted, "I can't do that!"

Yuno smiled gently. "Don't be silly," she told him as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Of course you can! It'll be easy! For one thing, most of them are way smaller than us."

"I don't mean logistically!" Yuki shouted. And that was the point when all the remaining traces of Yuki's desire to discuss this matter 'delicately' completely evaporated. Climbing to his feet, he spoke with increasing desperation: "I mean it's horrible and cruel — not to mention completely overkill! After all, we only need to kill the Eighth, right?!"

She slid off of the bed and stood up now, putting her hands on her hips. The smile on her face dissipated as she cocked her head slightly to the side. "We have no idea how that server of hers works," Yuno said. "What makes you so sure all the future diaries created off of her blog site will stop functioning if she dies?"

Yuki blinked and took a step back from her as he considered this. "If we just destroy her server, don't they have to?" he reasoned. He rubbed his chin with one hand as he thought. "No, I'm positive they'll break," he said, his confidence rising, "Because Ai's and Marco's apprentice diaries stopped working when we blocked their signal."

Yuno leaned forward. "Most websites keep a backup server, right?" she suggested.

"Tch," he scoffed by way of reply. "Do you really think she can transfer all the godly magic or fancy tech or whatever she has in her future diary into some backup copy?"

Leaning back to stand upright once more, Yuno shrugged. "I dunno," she admitted. "But if her diary can transfer the ability to see the future to countless apprentices, there's no telling how else it might be able share its power."

"Come on," Yuki said doubtfully. "Deus would never allow that kind of loophole. He's really dedicated to the whole 'your diary is your life' thing. Do you seriously believe he'd let us make backups that easily?"

She smiled playfully as she wagged her finger at him. "Ah-ah, I never meant to suggest Eighth has some kind of 'extra life' in storage," Yuno said. "But even if her life is only tied to the original server, why does that make it unthinkable she could've backed up the other functions?" She folded her hands together in front of her. "Besides, even if none of the apprentice diaries work after we get to the Eighth, that doesn't mean those kids aren't still a threat to us. I kind of doubt they'd take her death lying down."

Yuki pursed his lips as his brow lowered. Sourly, he reminded her, "Just a few seconds ago, you said taking them out was going to be 'easy.'"

"Only so long as we have the advantage of surprise," she warned. "It'd be bad news if it was them pulling a surprise attack on us, though. I doubt our diaries would be enough to counter all of them at once. That's why we need to make the first move here." Yuno spun on her heel and faced away from him for a bit, shifting to hold her hands behind her back. "Anyway, what's it matter?" she asked. "You're gonna bring them all back to life once you become god anyway, right?"

With a loud exhale, Yuki hung his head. "Of course I will," he said with exasperation. Yuno peered over her shoulder and watched as he continued, "But I'd prefer to not have to do that at all. In fact, I'd really prefer if they didn't have to suffer and die in the first place."

She spun back around and walked up to him, lightly wrapping her arms around his neck. Yuki lifted his head when he felt her touch him, and Yuno stared back into his eyes. "Trust me," she told him. "This is necessary. And it'll be easier than you think — a lot of those 'kids' are basically our age, after all."

"I... " Yuki paused to swallow hard. "I do trust you," he assured her. "But they're not all our age. Not even the majority. So how can I just casually murder children?"

"You said you wanted to stop relying me on to do all the dirty work, remember?" Yuno reminded him.

It was something they'd talked about during the past few days — something Marco, one of the two people who made up the Seventh diary holder, had pointed out to them. Yuki was relying too much on letting Yuno handle all the difficult, messy stuff this awful 'game' required. And in turn, Marco noted that Yuno was ignoring Yuki's wishes and simply steamrolling over him to do things her own way. In the immediate aftermath of the incident at Sakurami Tower, Yuki had gotten distracted by the death — actually, the murder — of his mother. But after his father was murdered as well, they'd spent a few days in hiding together as they planned their next move. Which allowed them plenty of time to discuss how their partnership — or "relationship," as Yuno preferred to see it — needed to change.

The bottom line was that it was time for Yuki to step up, and he knew it. And at the same time, Yuno expressed her intent to listen to him more and not just ignore his requests or misgivings.

"I know that," Yuki said back to her at last. He placed his hands around her waist in return, attempting to reassure her. "And I appreciate you hearing me out on this," he added with sincerity. He scrunched his face up as he added, "But you get where I'm coming from, right?"

She smiled lightly for a moment. "I'm not gonna force you to get involved. If you understand what I'm saying but don't think you can handle it, you can wait and join me for the next one. Or not! You just need to let me-"

"No, it's fine," Yuki said quickly, interrupting her. "Like you said, I don't want to just rely on you for this stuff anymore." Even so, he directed his eyes away, feeling suddenly unable to look directly at her. "I just... I don't know how I can go through with it."

When Yuno responded to him this time, she spoke more quietly. She placed a hand to the side of his face, touching his temple softly with her fingertips before sliding them down his cheek. "The first few are the hardest," she said in an attempt to assure him. "But you'll get used to it."

"Really doubt it," he mumbled.

Yuno cradled his cheek in her palm. "Whether you do or don't, I still don't want to see you change who you are. You know?"

His eyes instantly moved back to meet hers. "No, I... guess I don't. What do you mean?"

Yuno lowered her hand from his face. "I don't want you to be too trusting or naïve, of course. The trouble is, I also don't want you to lose your kindness," she explained. She shrugged. "It's kind of a contradiction." Yuki managed to smile a little at the compliment. Then Yuno added, "Either way, I know this stuff is going to get easier for you as you keep doing it."

That small smile faded quickly. "'Easier'?" he repeated. His hands fell away from her waist. "You mean, easier to kill?" She simply nodded, causing his jaw to go slack for a second. "I... deeply can't see how that'll ever be true," he said, clearly displeased. "Sure, you say I'll get used to it, or that it'll get easier, but how can killing people ever be 'easy'?

Yuno raised her eyebrows. "You might be surprised."

"And why should it be easy? Why would I want that?" Yuki continued, increasingly agitated. "For taking lives to be 'easy'?" He took a step back. "For that matter, how can it be 'easy' for you?"

"Yuki," Yuno said with evident affection, "It's not as-"

"Did you just forget that you're killing human beings?!" he asked, cutting her off. There was an air of pleading to his voice that made him sound like he was balancing on the edge between despair and anger. "Because that's what they are," he continued, firmly. "They're humans — no different from you or me!"

It took only a second for Yuno's face to harden. Her eyes seemed to darkened, and her eyebrows furrowed. In a cool monotone, she stated, "We're not killing people, Yuki. They're just bodies. All of them... they're already dead. They just don't know it yet."

Yuki shook his head frantically. "What are you talking about?!" he implored. "They're still alive right now, damn it! Even those cultists you killed, or the police officers that I... " he trailed off. "Even if they were misguided, th-they still had hopes and dreams and-"

"This world is ending, Yuki," Yuno interrupted him with calm resolve. "If Deus doesn't choose his successor very soon, there's not gonna be a god in place when he dies. And what do you think will happen to the world then?"

Yuki stared at her, trying to blink through the tears that were forming at the bottom of his eyes. In a whisper, he finally asked, "What?"

She folded her arms as she shook her head. "Definitely nothing good," Yuno said. "Deus told us that he needs a successor. And I'm pretty sure gods don't 'need' anything unless it's super important." She took a deep breath. "Just think: Reality could start collapsing around us at any moment. And nobody's hopes or dreams matter next to something like that."

He shut his eyes tight and grimaced as he tried to process her words. "You can't know for sure that... " Yuki managed to say — but he trailed off, sounding every bit as uncertain as he felt.

"Besides," Yuno went on, "Doesn't it make sense to kill a few people right now so we can wrap this up before the world starts falling apart? Which will kill way more people?"

Opening his eyes once more, Yuki swallowed hard. "That's it, then?" he asked. "You're going to carve the fastest path you can to becoming god, no matter whose throat you have to cut along the way?"

"You're the one who's going to become god," she reminded him. "And yes — absolutely!" She lifted her hands from her sides, clenching them into fists. "I'm getting you onto that throne no matter what it takes," she said, determined.

Yuki shook his head in disbelief. "And do the lives of the people you expect to kill matter to you at all?" he pressed.

In response, Yuno cracked a grin that made Yuki feel very uncomfortable. "They can't matter, silly!" Yuno replied with an off-kilter giggle. "I have to shut my ears to their pleas and their crying and remember that they're just one more obstacle to the only thing that does matter."

Yuki swallowed hard as he paused to review her words in his mind. He stepped over to the bed and turned around, sitting down on it before he guessed, "You mean, uh, the stopping-the-world-from-ending thing."

Yuno pivoted to face his new location and tilted her head, half-smiling as she did so. "No, I mean you," she corrected him. "You're the thing that makes the messy stuff feel easy." As she centered her head again, her expression relaxed. "I used to have lots of 'hopes and dreams' for myself, actually. But when I... " She paused for a long moment, her pupils quivering as she did so. "When I started losing stuff, and I felt like I couldn't go on?" she finally continued, "That's when I realized you really only need one." She held up her index finger to illustrate the point. "It's the secret of life, you know."

Yuki scratched awkwardly at his cheek before opting for a weak joke: "The secret of life is your finger?"

She giggled and shook her head. "You're such a dork," Yuno said affectionately. "The secret is that it only takes one thing to make life worth living. Even if I lose everything else, so long as I've got one thing left to fight for or one thing left to live for, I can always face the next day." She lowered her finger and folded both hands behind her back. "And that's you," she told him, blushing as she did so. "You're my one thing."

Yuki stared at her, dumbfounded. He'd shifted from being upset and frustrated to feeling uncomfortable, then just kind of confused, and now he found his chest swelling with warmth. Weirdest of all? Every one of those feelings was thanks to Yuno. "But why?" he asked in a half-whisper. "Why me?" His gaze drifted to the hotel room's carpet. "I still can't wrap my head around it," he admitted. "You could've chosen any guy in the school. But you settled on me, because—what? Just because we talked to each other once?"

Yuno spun and sat down next to him on the bed. She reached back, propping herself up with both hands. "Lemme think," she said. "I met this sensitive, introspective guy who always puts other people's concerns ahead of his own? And he's gorgeous?" She smiled enigmatically as she closed her eyes. "Hmmm — guess you're right. I don't see the appeal," she teased.

He lifted his head again and looked towards her, managing to return her smile. "That's not fair," he said. He found that he couldn't help but admire the contours of her face as when he looked at her. "There's no way you could've decided all those things about me from that short conversation."

When Yuno opened her eyes again, she was looking directly into Yuki's. Still smiling at him, she leaned in to bring her face closer to his. As she did so, she reached up and put one arm around his back. "Full disclosure? I kinda kept an eye on you for a while after our first chat," she confessed.

Yuki raised his eyebrows at her. "So you stalked me," he noted. Somehow, the idea of Yuno stalking him didn't feel bad anymore. "Forgive me if I don't act surprised," he cracked.

Yuno ignored the remark. "That's when I saw who you were. And I decided you're worth fighting for." By pivoting her upper body to face him, she was able to put both her arms around his back. Then she leaned her forehead against his and whispered. "That's why, whenever things feel too hard and I start to have doubts about what I need to do, I just remember what I'm fighting for. I think of you." She shrugged. "The rest is easy."

She pulled him into a kiss and he let her, putting his own arms around her as he returned the kiss in kind. When they broke back apart, they continued to stare into each other's eyes.

"I guess... I should thank you," Yuki said, blushing at her. "For seeing the best in me."

"Then thank you, too," Yuno said back. "For putting your faith in me."