Chapter 7: Hell Correspondence
Adelle Visioyn.
My hands were shaken, because I had dared to type her name.
To type it in the Hell Correspondence Website.
Just one, one click.
A trickle of sweat fell on the side of my face, onto my chin.
Just a click.
And it will all be over.
I trembled.
This Hell Correspondence thing, it's too good to be true. I can't send her to Hell.
This was a joke.
This was all a joke.
The person operating this site could actually spill the beans to Adelle.
Who wouldn't, if the prize was to become a friend to one of the richest possible people?
And what if it wasn't?
Adelle would be gone.
Forever.
In the fiery pits of Hell.
I would be free. And so would others.
Come on.
Just one click.
I stared at the submit button.
It was just so begging to be clicked.
I mustered all my strength, and I held my breath.
...
Click.
***
The petal glowed a bright red, and vibrated slightly.
She must be calling me.
I touched the petal, and felt myself disappear from my room.
I closed my eyes.
And I felt myself appear.
Eternal Sunset.
I opened my eyes.
Where Enma Ai lives, where she receives her requests. The requests for vengeance, for revenge, for justice.
Except, I couldn't see her. I only saw this girl.
Minamoto Yue.
Somehow, I knew what to do.
'Hone-Onna.' The name came out in a whisper.
Startled, as the four other companions were, but she obeyed.
I felt a straw doll materialize in my hand.
I held it out to the girl.
'Here, take this.'
Enma Ai appeared, in a whirl of petals, behind Yue.
'If you truly wish to have revenge, pull the red string,' she said.
***
'What did you think of that, Ren?' Hone-Onna was pacing again.
'I was appalled. Very much so. Is Enzeru Yuri her counterpart now?' I scoffed.
'Ren! Do not be rude. It may cause problems with your relationship to Ojou.'
'What? Why should it?'
'I do not know why... But she seems like a very important person to Ojou.'
***
'Sensei, Can I please talk to you about something?'
I looked up from my book.
Adelle Visioyn had a puppy-like expression plastered on her face. It was indescribable—like she was somewhere between begging and acting sweet.
'Yes, what is it, Adelle-chan?' Marya-sensei pushed up her glasses.
Adelle winced at being given the honorific –chan. She hated it, really. It wasn't normal for her. But no matter.
She flipped her hair to her left side. When she spoke, her voice was layered with honey.
'Can we please talk outside?'
She lowered her mouth to Marya-sensei's ear.
Barely audible—my hearing aid could not enable me to hear the words she spoke, but there was something that I had learned before I got them—lip reading.
'Minamoto Yue has vandalized the girl's bathrooms.'
I refused to believe it.
I, Sarina Fukugawa, Yue-chan's best friend,
Knew what it was.
It was a lie.
***
I cannot forgive her. I cannot!
She ruined everything. Now the teachers think I stole that 10,000 yen from my mother. That I vandalized the bathrooms with insults to my friends, that I broke into the teachers' faculty room and set it on fire.
My friends, my ex-friends, they turn their backs from me in disgust. Only... only Sarina-chan knows. Only Sarina-chan stays my friend. But even then—she cannot stay near me any longer. Adelle will threaten her, because Sarina-chan lives just as prestigiously as Adelle does, maybe even more.
My mother mourns and curses my birth. She doesn't trust me.
Never will she, nor shall my teachers. Marya-sensei, oh Marya-sensei, you know I would never.
Adelle Visioyn, this is your doing! You smile cruelly, yet act like the innocent-looking bystander. Which you aren't.
I hate you, I hate you!
...
Ding.
What... was that?
As I turned around, I faced my bed. And I saw it.
The doll.
If you truly wish to take revenge...
My fingers closed in on the red string. The brilliant red string. The road to freedom.
Please! Send Adelle Visioyn to Hell...
I held my breath, as I pulled the string.
...
I hear, and grant this vengeance.