Here's the twenty-third chapter. Last time, Len was going through a rough time with himself until he decided to go somewhere. He received a call from Rin which made him rush to her aid. He found Piko doing something weird to her before I left the cliffhanger. Well, now you all will see what happens next. Enjoy. ^-^


Chapter 23

"Bastard! What the hell did you do to Rin?!" I yelled at the silver head who let go of Rin brutally to the ground. I rushed over to her and carried her in my arms. "Rin!"

She layed motionless in my arms.

I looked up to Piko and growled. "Answer me! What did you do to her?!"

Piko smirked. "I only cleaned her. She was becoming unpure."

"What do you mean?"

"Her precious soul was becoming a dirty one, and I had to step in to cleanse it."

"You're still not making any damn sense!"

Piko smirked. "How about I give you a little background? You see, I am part of an organization which our goal is to cleanse the pure souls of people that slowly turn into unpure ones. We clean them and make them pure again. We try to save the ones who can be saved. Alas, souls such as yours are already marked by the demons and can no longer be saved."

I glared at him. "If you can do so much, what the hell are you?"

Piko chuckled. "I'm a hypnosis." He pointed to his eyes. "A special gift from God Himself to help pure the souls of people. My organization works for Him, for the good of all."

I growled. "It looks like you all are trying to be God. How can anyone pure someone's soul?"

"Were you not listening? We have the ability to hypnotize people and erase the evil from their minds to make them pure again."

"How disgusting."

Piko smirked. "Very. To see pure souls to be influenced by evil."

"What's disgusting is to see that people like you exist."

"Oh?"

"It's disgusting to see people have their humanity erased from them."

"Humanity?"

"We are all human. We have flaws and regrets. We are not perfect."

"Don't you find that wrong? We're trying to help people from having demon influences on them."

"I doubt you're trying to help. I think what you're doing is erasing their memories, the same memories that help recreate the person for who they are."

Piko smirked. "My. Aren't you a smart one?"

I growled. "Bastard! Is that what you did to Rin?!"

Piko shrugged. "I had no choice. Her pure soul was slowly rotting away. I could not allow that. She's too precious to be lost." He pointed at me. "You're the cause of all this."

I hesitated.

"From the moment I met her, she was like an angel walking among us. However, she began talking about this person called Len. "Len did this. Len did that." That was all she was talking about. Her soul was slowly rotting away because she was being influenced by a dirty soul such as yourself. I couldn't let her do this to herself, so I hypnotized her."

"You've done it more than once before?"

"Many times. It was getting tiring. I would get her to stay by my side and forget about you, but she would find a way to break the spell and think about you yet again. Do you know how irritating that was? She made me push myself to completely cleanse her and have you completely erased from her mind."

I growled. "You monster."

Piko chuckled. "Look who's talking."

"You're the one behind all this. You're the one who made me hate Rin for no reason. You're the one pulling the strings. You're the one to blame. You're the one with the unpure soul."

"My. Being harsh, now are we? Well, nothing can be done now. She should wake up any moment now, not knowing who you are. I'll take your spot as she pushes you away and tell her all the bad qualities you have to make her hate you. No angel should be with a demon."

I had enough of this bullshit. I gently placed Rin against a tree trunk and turned back to Piko. I growled like a mad animal. If I was a demon, then I'm feeling it get out.

"I'm going to fucking kill you..." I said in a low voice.

Piko smirked. "I'm so scared." He laughed. "Come on. Give me your best shot."

I held onto my two fist tightly, feeling my blood stop flowing in them. I hissed and was about to rush towards Piko until a familiar, soft voice called out to me.

"Len..."

I hesitated and turned around to Rin who opened her eyes half way. She woke up...

"Rin! Rin, are you okay?" I said as I bent down to her and held her gently.

Rin smiled weakly. "You did came."

"Of course I came. I promised I would never leave your side."

"Hearing that makes me so happy. Thank you, Len."

"What?! She's still able to remember you?" Piko said in shock. "But how? I completely cleanse her memory of you."

I glared back at Piko. "It takes more than fully cleaning one's memory for someone to forget about something important to them. No magic in the world can force someone to forget."

"You're calling yourself special, now? How pathetic. She doesn't think you're important. Isn't that right, Rin? Is Len not someone you hate so much?"

I suddenly saw Piko right in front of me. He pushed me away and began to do something weird with his eyes. He was trying to hypnotize Rin again.

"I won't let you!" I said as I pushed him and threw him to the ground. I landed on top of him and began punching him.

"Get off of me!" Piko growled.

"I want you dead! I want you dead!" I yelled as I continued to punch him.

"Rin!"

"Len, stop!"

I stopped immediately, taking deep breaths, and turned to Rin who glared at me. "Rin..."

"Stop hurting him," she said sternly.

Piko chuckled and pushed me off. "You see, Rin? He is such a bad person."

Rin glared at Piko as well. "You're the bad person."

Piko hesitated. "W-what?"

"How could I been so blind? You're the one who messed around with both of us. You're the one who forced me to hurt Len."

"T-that's not true. Why would you ever-"

"Piko, shut it. I don't know exactly how you were able to control me, but I'm able to figure that much out. I've felt strange these past days, feel like I did something I shouldn't have. I felt like I did something throughout my day, but at the end, I don't remember what I did. It was like my body was moving on its own as my mind was somewhere else. Piko, you had something to do with this, I know it."

"How?"

Rin looked at me. "Because I felt pain. I felt the hurt that Len carried throughout these past days. I knew something was not right with him. His heart was stabbed, and it affected me as well. I've never felt this before I met you, Piko, so it must've had something to do with you." She turned back to him. "I hate you, Piko. You were this close to break this special bond I have with Len. I thought we could be close friends, but you were thinking of something else. I'm sorry, but I don't want to have anything to do with you."

Piko stuttered. "B-but Rin...this guy is hurting your soul. Y-you can't..."

"I know Len is not the most well-mannered nor best person out there, but he has my full trust. We had our ups and down, but in the end, all the matters is that we smile with each other. I am happy with him even if he teases me a lot. Never had there been anyone else out there who made me smile the brightest until I met him."

"Rin..."

Rin took my hand and pulled me away. "Let's go, Len."

I followed behind her and didn't bother to look back at Piko. I stared at her most fierce face I ever seen on her. She looked dead serious about everything she said. Even I was. Does that mean she...really does care about me?

We both stopped at an intersection and waited for the cars to pass by.

Rin sighed. "I can't believe I thought we could've been friends."

I looked down to her.

She turned to look at me and smiled. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" She paused. "I mean, physically. I'm sure he hurt you emotionally. I'm so sorry. I was involved in this as well."

"Don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. He was the one in control," I said.

Rin sighed. "What a horrible person. What did he think he would accomplish with something as foolish as that? My friendship? Of course not."

"I'm pissed that he did something like that to you."

"To me? What about you? You're the one who took the bullet to the chest. You must've been horribly devastated."

I looked up to the afternoon sky. "I was, but I rather hold the pain than for you to carry it. I wouldn't want you to be in any pain at all."

"Len, I'm still so sorry. I'm not sure exactly what I did to you, but I know that I hurt you badly. I'm so sorry."

I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be sorry. I said you didn't do anything."

"Len..."

I made Rin face me. We both looked into each other's eyes for a while. I was able to admire those gorgeous blue eyes I fell for the first time I saw them. I had her right here. After all this time, I have her again with me. But was it the right time for me to tell her my feelings to her?

"Jerks!"

Just then, Rin was pushed towards the street with Piko following behind her. He stuck his tongue at me as Rin nearly fell to the ground.

Then everything went into slow motion.

I noticed a fast car rushing towards the two. They weren't going to make it to the other side in time. There were only two solutions: grab Rin and hopefully be able to pull her back or let them keep going and hope they'll make it to the other side. Like hell I'll let Piko get away with her again.

I rushed over to Rin and managed to grab her arm. I pulled on her so hard that it caused for the both of us to fall backwards onto the sidewalk and left Piko on the street alone.

The car honked.

I still had time to grab Piko to safety. I would've done that too, however, there was something else concerning me.

Rin began to cough. She looked up to me with a red face and half open eyes. She looked exhausted and weary.

"Len...it came back again..." she whispered before falling down on me, unconscious.

Shit! Why did it had to be now? Why now?

I turned back to Piko who stood his guard as the car tried to make a stop but I knew it wasn't going to stop in time.

I had two other choices to do: Save Piko or run away with Rin.

I had mere seconds to figure it out.

What should I do?


And that is that. Well, I guess it's another cliffhanger. Oh well.

Anyway, we are now able to see Piko's real intentions about his actions. Don't ask me why I made him into some kind of hypnosis dude. I have no idea myself. I just thought there had to be an explanation for being mean to Len and whatnot. Eh.

So, apparently, we learn that Rin had nothing to do with everything she had done these past chapters. NOTHING. So, now people, you can love her again. Haha.

Rin also gave this speech to Piko, basically telling him she doesn't like him and that she likes Len. Not sure if she loves him or just likes him as a friend but Len seems content with that.

And then the two get into trouble some more just when we thought nothing else was about to happen. Piko decided to get himself and Rin killed (maybe) and the two were about to get hit by a car. Len is able to save Rin but she seems to be getting hit by her sickness again. Piko is going to get hit if Len doesn't save him.

So, this is where I will actually let my readers choose. Which one should Len do? Should he save Piko or run away with Rin and find some medical help quick? You guys will choose for me. Haha.

'But Illusionary, that's your job'

I know. But how about having a little control yourselves? Eh? Yes or no?

Anyway, tune in for more and please review. Thank you. ^-^