"You cannot send her to hell."
Her ruby eyes stared at me.
"Why? She deserves it!"
She only stared.
I was even more frustrated.
"Why?"
The anguish coiled itself around my heart, boiling.
Tightening.
Tears fell from my eyes, as I gritted my teeth.
"Why?"
..
"Immortal."
She pointed to me.
And she pointed to the name on the screen.
And she turned to me.
"Your soul is tainted with immortality."
She began to disappear.
"You cannot die…"
She silently whispered,
As the darkness washed over her face,
"The immortal do not die…"
***
Tears filled my eyes, as I typed her name.
Hikari Ichinose.
I wasn't sure about what I was going to do.
Maybe it was because, I knew.
That I…
I loved Hikari.
And because of that, I hated her too.
And by her folly, I was fooled.
I was nothing to her,
Nothing but a toy.
Something amusing, for quite a while,
And then once interest wanes, I was discarded,
Like a sad, dirty rag doll slowly gathering dust inside that creaky old cupboard.
Nothing worth anymore.
But I had to face it.
As much as I loved her, my hurt and anger ache for justice.
…
Click.
***
"New client, isn't it?"
Hone-Onna was sitting on the porch again, watching the Eternal Sunset.
It's a term we use for that timeless, endless red horizon that we've known for so long.
Wanyuudon nodded.
"Ikinozawa Felix," he said softly, sadly.
"The client didn't hesitate," Wanyuudon said.
"Even after hearing the terms?" I asked, only mildly surprised. After all, we had a handful of clients who chose to send their perpetrators to Hell on the spot.
But they were only a handful.
It was always like this. Revenge was a never ending cycle.
Always going in circles, tangling up people's destinies, and intertwining lives.
"What's the reason?" I asked.
"Don't know. Wonder why Yamawaro's doing the job. You'd think he'd rather be standing around, serving little Kikuri-hime," Hone-Onna said, with a hint of irritation.
"Ojou's just letting Yamawaro experience the job, more often than usual," Wanyuudon said. "Remember, he only was recruited recently."
"True," I said.
Hone-Onna stood up from the porch and stretched. "We'd better get going. One other soul to be brought to Hell."
***
"Good morning, Atanashia-san. You're quite early today."
I came in the classroom much earlier than Evanjerin did, since I felt like I needed some time alone, for now. Evanjerin was still probably cozy in her bed, catching up on her sleep. If she even gets any lately.
I smiled at the person who greeted me-- Airisu, always bright and early even on drab, gray weekdays. Like today. She smiled back.
"I'm on classroom duty today, so I thought I'd clean before classes start."
"Oh, is that so... Wow, you're so responsible! I can't ever remember to clean my room in the mornings, and Mom gets mad at me for it," Airisu said, chuckling a little.
"I used to do that too, but I kind of developed it as a habit, so I never forget." I laughed. "Nowadays, I even fix my sister's room!"
She laughed in unison.
"You!"
A menacing, accusing voice floated out of thin air.
I looked up to see a girl of Class 1B. Her blue eyes stared viciously into the room, particularly at the boy who had been erasing the board.
"You're the reason why my sister disappeared!" She tried to get to him, but was pulled away by her friends.
"Let it go, Mina," They said. "It's not right for you to act like this."
"No, I know it was him!" She cried out, desperate, protesting.
"Mina--"
"No! He sent her to Hell!"
My eyes widened.
So did the boy's eyes. He dropped the eraser, and his whole body shook.
"Hey, listen here. It's not right for you to make accusations like that." A classmate stood between the two, staring Mina Ichinose in the eye.
Mina shook off her friends, who had been holding her back all the while.
She stood there, glaring at the boy who she claimed to have sent her sister to Hell.
Her blue eyes seethed. She herself radiated a hateful aura.
He couldn't look at her.
Her eyebrows narrowed, and she quickly turned her back, her back rigid, and her nose in the air.
Her black hair flipped behind her, the fury still unmistakably there.
"Say, Atanashia… Do you think the Hell Correspondence could really exist?"
***
Driiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.
I put away my pen, and closed my notebook.
I tried to pay attention to the very last reminders the teacher was giving, but I couldn't help but stare at the empty seat in front of me.
Sone-sensei was absent again. So was the gardener, and so was Ishimoto-sensei.
Sounds fishy, right? Not really.
I can't imagine, however, why some of my classmates who became clients to the Hell Correspondence don't realize that their teachers and gardener are members of it.
Or maybe—
"Say, has anyone heard from Enzeru Yuri-san? She hasn't been going to school lately," inquired the substitute teacher.
The class suddenly was immersed in complete silence, not knowing what to say.
No one tried to approach or befriend Enzeru Yuri. Then again, rumors of having the Jigoku Shoujo as your classmate weren't exactly comforting.
"Oh? Why have you all gone quiet?"
One girl timidly answered, "I-I'm… I mean, w-we're not sure Sensei. E-Enzeru Yuri-san likes to keep to herself, so…"
"So none of you have tried to talk to her?"
Classmates looked at one another. What are they getting themselves into?
"Well… S-sort of… Actually… Not quite," the girl replied.
Sensei sighed. "Look, even if almost all of you were friends since kindergarten, it doesn't mean there's no other room for new students."
She gestured to the twins, Atanashia and Evanjerin Kent.
"They came in earlier this year—and you were able to welcome them. So why?"
The question lingered in the air. Why, exactly?
Somehow, they all knew the answer. All too well.
"Really… I'll be having a word with Sone-sensei when she gets back. Dismissed."
The sub left without another word.
The class stayed in silence for a long while.
Slowly, they all shuffled along, going about their own business. But no one spoke a word.
Still, the question remained.
The answer mocked it, in reply.
***
Authoress: IAMSOSORRY. I do realize that I have been on hiatus for a LOONG time. That's because writer's block + not enough time= unfinished chapters of an unfinished story. But yes, it will be continuing, so please still R & R! Thanks for all those who already do. ^^