Love… No, why am I even thinking about that? It just Mali trying to get under my skin again. I know that so… Why is it still bothering me so much?

How could I even love him like that? There's no way, right? I… I can't.

Natsuki shook her head, but her attempt at refusing the notion only convinced Mali to continue.

"Do you ever think of the future, Natsuki-Chan? When you do, is Senpai in it?" Mali questioned.

Natsuki kept her mouth shut, prompting a small, delighted smile to fall on Mali's lips.

"Do you find Senpai and his constant cheek scratching quirk cute? Does Senpai make you feel like you have a better sense of self?"

"He…"

"Ehehe, Natsuki-chan…" Mali slowly made her way towards Natsuki. Every step she took slowly distorted Natsuki's already worried face, filling Mali with great pleasure. "You can't tell me that being around Senpai doesn't make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, right?"

"That's kinda an exaggeration…"

"You can stand there and really tell me that his innocent and somewhat awkward smiles doesn't make you weak in the knees? Him always making time for you when you need him and respecting when you need to be left alone? Him sticking up for you and diverting any blame to himself to keep you from feeling even worse than you already do time and time again?"

Mere inches away from her face, Mali stared deeply into Natsuki's eyes.

"All those times you two talked; him listening to you and you listening to him… Surely that meant a lot to you didn't it? Respecting his morals, finding his point of view interesting and him respecting yours."

Mali reached forward and scratched Natsuki's bright pink right cheek in a teasing manner.

"Just thinking about Senpai sends your heart aflutter, doesn't it? And when you think about him, you have to think about the conversations you may have with him, you want to hear his opinions and just overall wondering when's the next time you can be around him.

And that desire doesn't require a deep, analytical deep dive to understand what spawns it. It just feels wonderful. It feels wonderful to be around Senpai because of how you feel about him. Because you…"

"I don't…"

"When it comes to Senpai, you…"

"I…"

"It's just one sentence, Natsuki-chan. Whether it's the truth or your attempt at a lie, you only have to say just a few words."

Now taking a step back, Mali giggled upon taking in the entirety of Natsuki's confusion and anxiety.

"Well, Natsuki-chan?"

Natsuki knew deep down that she should not have paid attention to Mali's words, but now that she had, she felt trapped by them. It would be so easy to just deny her claims, but something deep inside prevented her from uttering a single word.

"The girl's right. You only need to say one thing."

If her heart could stop right then, Natsuki would have considered that an act of mercy. She couldn't dare look up. Even keeping them open amid the loud encroaching footsteps was too much.

"Didn't you say that up and down that that kid was only a member of that club you were in? Didn't you say that over and over even though you wrote differently in your book?" Kaen's words of reminder were like a dagger to her still beating heart. "Didn't you?"

"I…"

Natsuki was paralyzed; Normally, seeing someone in such a state would provide Mali with amusement, but her joyful smile wasn't there. Even the sight of someone having their head jerked around only prompted her to begin slowly moving her feet.

"Papa…" Natsuki winced, the pain quickly becoming too much to bear.

"I let you get away with your lies and yet you're still fantasizing about that the kid that scratches his right cheek!"

"No… I-!"

"Bullshit!"

There was no hesitation in his eyes when Kaen drove the back of his fist into his daughter's face, the force sending Natsuki into Mali's arms.

"Hm."

Mali glanced up just in time to watch Kaen storm out of the front door in a huff. She cocked her head in surprise, noting the strangeness of what just happened.

Though what happened next was something she did expect to happen" Seeing Natsuki run upstairs without a word.

"Huh."

…

"Natsuki-chan?" Mali poked her head into her host's room. There she found Natsuki sitting on her bed. "Are you going to keep ignoring my calls."

"I'm not in the mood for any of your comments," Natsuki said bluntly.

"I'm sure you're not. That's why-" Mali walked into the room with her hands behind her back. She sat along the edge of Natsuki's bed and flashed her usual smile. "Here's some ice cream."

"Ice cream?" Natsuki muttered, perplexed.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Natsuki-chan, I promised Senpai to be a little nicer to his friends."

Natsuki rolled her eyes.

"Ah, Natsuki-chan, you don't think that I purposely got you into a heated conversation about Senpai in order to lure your father into a trap or something, do you?"

"…I don't know what to believe and I'll leave it at that."

"Really? I thought you also be wondering why I didn't say anything when it happened," Mali admitted, dropping a scoop of ice cream in her mouth."

Natsuki shrugged. "Not really."

"Lying to yourself again, Natsuki-chan?" Mali giggled. "Tell me again, how'd you get that cut on your arm? Did you tick off your Paoa back then too?"

"No…"

"You mean you didn't tick off your Papa that was about to lay into Senpai?"

"Will you stop bringing that up!?" Natsuki snapped. "Why do you keep going back to that?"

"Because by society's supposed moral standards, I believe your family issues bringing in a completely unrelated party, especially when that party is your beloved Shujinkou, should have been a wakeup call to you."

"Urk-!"

"Isn't that one of the reasons why you deliberately tried to keep your home away from everyone? Another being part of you doesn't want to be pitied on or have other patronize you?"

"I don't even know why you're talking like you didn't instigate anything here!"

"So you do think that I purposely provoked your Papa into acting the way everyone assumes he does because he attacked Senpai once.

"Stop bringing up that last point!"

"Even so, you really do think I would do something like that."

"Of course, you would do something like that! The very first thing you did when you came into our lives is prank the school and personally tortured Shujinkou."

"What are you trying to say, Natsuki-chan?"

"You think you coming here and purposely provoking everyone does anything! You're only making things worse!"

Mali met Natsuki's bout of anger with a steady gaze.

"How'd I do that?" she asked. "I mean, if we go by what I know and by your logic, the one that made things worse was you just for falling for Senpai. If you didn't fall for Senpai, then whatever fragile balance you're trying to project wouldn't be so marred."

"Stop turning things back on me!"

"Then maybe you should offer a rebuttal instead of just screaming or stuttering over your words."

Taken aback, Natsuki could only mutter, "…You're seriously messed up, are you?"

"And you keep changing the subject. Natsuki-chan, really doesn't know how to confront tough subjects no matter how much she tries to project that she can," Mali teased.

"Seriously messed-up…"

"Ehehe, tell me, Natsuki-chan, what would it take for you to be upfront with what goes on in your life? Are you going to wait until your Papa tries to kill Senpai."

"Don't even make jokes like that."

"I'm being entirely serious. Just from the little I've seen and your refusal to properly explain leads others to jump to the worst conclusions. Could it be that you refuse to because you can't possibly make up an excuse?"

"I really don't get why I have to explain anything to you right now."

"More deflecting, Natsuki-chan, especially when I wholeheartedly believe that you'd easily come up with more excuses if it was Senpai that was confronting you."

"That's not-"

"All you do is deflect and, if you can't, then you completely fall apart, defeated. You ultimately come off as tough because your friends let you be."

Natsuki could not bring herself to refute Mali's vicious words. If anything, she would just be making things worse for herself.

"Fine… Get off," Natsuki sternly demanded.

Curious, Mali did as she was told and watched her host bury herself under her blankets.

"You're going to bed already? Isn't it a bit too early for that."

"Only way to get this nightmare sleepover over with."

"Hm… Okay."

Mali reached for a nearby blanket and pillow and laid down on the floor. In what seemed like no time at all, the room was filled with nearly silent snippets of breathing.

Even though she was finally given a reprieve from Mali, Natsuki was still afflicted by one specific point of argument that was made against her.

"The one that made things worse was you just for falling for Senpai."

That singular phrase haunted her for an hour, gnawing away at her little by little. Soon enough, she came to realize she had been trembling this whole time.

Natsuki glanced over her shoulder. Mali was sleeping soundly, giving her the signal she needed to silently slip out of bed and sneak towards her bedroom window.

She slowly opened it and carefully moved out towards the ledge that lied just outside of it.

Once she secured her balance, she turned to close the window and was greeted by Mali's smiling face.

"Mali?!"

The shock cost her her balance. As she fell back, Mali reached out and grabbed Natsuki by her arm.

"Told you I was going to live up to my promise to Senpai to be nicer, Natsuki-chan," Mali cheerfully bragged.

"This is more basic human decency than kindness…" Natsuki muttered under her breath.

With seemingly no effort, Mali pulled Natsuki back upright and giggled.

"Were you ever asleep?" Natsuki questioned.

"The answer's a little complex, Natsuki-chan."

"How is it complex?"

"Ehe, Don't you think real question here is why're you sneaking out at night. And doing so like you're so experienced?"

"Look, I'm really not in the mood for more of the back and forth, okay? I'm just going out for some fresh air."

"Wow… For once, you're being honest, however vague."

"And…?"

"I wouldn't say anything to ruin the specialness of this moment. You know, you being honest."

"You just did…"

"Still, I'm surprised you were about to leave without this," Mali reached into her pocket and pulled out a cell phone.

"Eh? How'd you get my phone?" Natsuki asked as she quickly took it back.

"It was on the floor after you Papa had a melt down."

"Don't."

"Either way, shouldn't you hurry along and get your fresh air, Natsuki-chan? You never know when the opportunity will vanish."

Natsuki gently bit her tongue, deliberately preventing herself from inquiring what Mali was possibly implying.

Stuffing her phone down her pocket, she slid down a nearby pipe, noting that it may eventually no longer support her weight as she did so.

Once at the bottom, she grabbed a bag hidden in a pair of bushes and took off into the night.

…

After wandering around aimlessly for what seemed like forever, Natsuki found herself staring at her image reflecting off a small park lake.

"The one that made things worse was you for falling for Senpai."

Natsuki reached towards her reflection.

"The one that made things worse was you."

Ripples in the water distorted her image even after retracting her fist.

"She always has to have the last word…! Telling me something like that-! She's just so-! Who acts like her!? I have never met someone so infuriating in my life! Ugh!"

A cold breeze brushed by. It felt like tiny pin needles trying as hard as they could to pierce her skin.

"Really need a new scarf…"

"Perhaps you wouldn't mind borrowing mine?"

The abrupt question left Natsuki stunned. It was not the question itself that had affected her, but the person asking.

"Yuri?"

"Ah… Evening."

Faced with a look of absolute shock and confusion, Yuri could only give a somewhat timid greeting. As she had predicted before her arrival, her friend's surprise quickly transformed into annoyance.

"Let me guess: we just happened to go to the same place at the same time by pure coincidence?" Natsuki said with a huff.

Yuri wished she could say that was what happened, knowing Natsuki would not really care for the truth.

"Actually… Mali told me I could find you here…" Yuri meekly admitted.

"Mali?!" Natsuki raged. "What, is she tracking me by my phone, or did she secretly follow me here?!"

"Tracking…"

"I wasn't serious about that one! I knew her having my phone for even a second was going to give me a major headache!"

It was no exaggeration. The constant frustration by the hands of Mali head had her head aching, prompting her to calm down by necessity.

"Why would she even bother getting you here anyw-?"

The answer immediately came to Natsuki upon seeing the concern on her friend's face.

"No…"

Yuri's eyes explained everything, but even though it was clear as day, Natsuki still struggled to believe it.

"Tell me she didn't…" Natsuki pleaded.

Yuri could only shake her head.

"Yuri…"

"…Mali gave me a very descriptive play-by-play of her evening with you," Yuri admitted.

"She…!"

Anger, disgust, dismay, disbelief, speechless… All words that could be used to relay how Natsuki felt at that moment. She could barely mumble anything beyond mere gibberish and her eyes were twitchy.

"What… the… HELL!?" Natsuki exploded. "Where does she come off showing up out of nowhere, chastising me and then divulging my private life however she wants! That's it; she's gone too far this time!"

"Natsuki…"

"No, Yuri; You can't say anything that will make me just brush this off like it's nothing! She's crossed a line!"

"I know. I know that it wasn't Mali's place to say anything. Plus, I'm not even sure why she would coax me of all people to see you now. I'm fairly certain I'm the last person you would be willing to talk to regarding something like this."

"What? Does she think this is okay because she suddenly trying to do something nice for Shujinkou? That makes all of this, okay?"

"I'm not Monika or Sayori, and surely you would confide in them when the person you really want to isn't available."

"What world does anyone think that's ok-? Wait, what did you just say?"

"I was just saying that you would most likely talk to Shujinkou about something so personal as always."

"D-Don't say it like that! You say that like I only talk about things with him," Natsuki spluttered.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that. It's just an objective fact that you find it easier to talk to him than the rest of us," Yuri explained. "I'm not trying to say it like it's a fault; I'm certainly the same way."

Natsuki sighedand gingerly rubbed her forehead. "…I don't know how, but you killed my anger right now. Now, I'm just super annoyed."

"I guess that's progress," Yuri accepted.

"Seriously, Yuri, what are you doing here. If you're just checking up on me, don't. I'm fine."

"I don't believe punching your reflection indicates that you're fine. Among other factors, I really don't think this is something you can brush off so easily anymore."

"…Ugh! Why is everyone all of a sudden digging into my personal life?"

"We're just concerned. The sequence of events that took place since your father appeared before us have been disconcerting to say the least. Now Mali has pretty much confirmed everyone's suspicions in such a short time. It didn't even sound like she had to trigger anything herself."

Natsuki remained silent.

"What she said is the truth, isn't it?" Yuri queried.

"…I already proved it when I got mad, didn't I…?"

"Natsuki, I know why the others stayed away, myself included of course, but I never really discovered your reason for staying away after the incident the night before Halloween."

"Isn't needing time to myself enough?"

"But you decided that before that happened, so that couldn't possibly be the reason. It didn't seem like a kneejerk response either considering how you decided to inform Shujinkou of it."

"I had to tell somebody to keep you all from worrying."

"But what did we have to worry about in the first place? That our immediate fears were true?"

Natsuki averted her gaze. With her back against the wall, she quietly admitted, "I didn't want you all to choose."

"Choose? What would we have needed to make a decision over?"

"Think about it. If I said that I couldn't be around anymore, don't you think there would have been a choice?"

"A choice between you or Shujinkou; who would be allowed to remain…" Yuri could see where Natsuki was coming from, but still shook her head in refusal. "I know for a fact we wouldn't be for either option in either scenario."

"Yeah, maybe you, Monika and Sayori wouldn't, but what about Shujinkou? You know as well as I do how he would react," Natsuki pointed out.

"…He would quit in an instance, citing how you were there first and deserve to be there more than he ever would."

"Exactly. And he would put on a brave face while doing it but would be crushed inside. I… I just couldn't do that to him. I couldn't be responsible for something else happening to him."

"Oh…" The sentiment was something Yuri understood completely. "But still… What I don't understand is, why would your father have an issue with Shujinkou?"

"He… He thinks that Shujinkou will take me away from him."

"Why would he think that?"

"Shujinkou's a guy and he's the only one I consider a close friend. He's always worried how it would look to be the only guy in a group of girls. He has no idea how that looks reversed," Natsuki explained.

"It does seem troublesome for everyone in some way…

"Right…"

"But that still doesn't really explain this idea that Shujinkou will take you away from your family or why he would feel so strongly about it. And the idea of overprotectiveness wouldn't exactly work in this situation judging from what Mali has told me."

Natsuki instinctively rubbed her throbbing cheek.

"If I were to hazard a guess, it really sounds like someone not wanting to lose something they own rather than protecting family."

"It's not-! …It's not like that. I just think that he doesn't want to lose someone else."

Someone else? Was there more Natsuki was hiding? But before Yuri could ask that, Natsuki threw her hands up in frustration."

"Ugh! This is why I didn't want anything to do with Shujinkou when he first showed up! I knew something like this would happen and yet I still became friends with him!"

"Natsuki, I don't really think you're being fair on yourself."

"How am I being unfair? I've been playing a game since we first met. I didn't want to be more than just people who happen to be in the same club; He's Sayori's childhood friend and let it just be that. But… But I also wanted to be friends with him at the same time.

I figured that if I just kept these two separate parts of my life apart then things would be fine and look how that turned out.

And I tried to tell Shujinkou that I couldn't be around him anymore, but I couldn't find a way to do it without hurting his feelings or making him feel guilty for something he had no real part in other than just being himself. You know, the thing that he just got comfortable with being after years of hating himself.

There was no way I could do that to him, so instead I dangled hope in front of him even though I knew that it was completely false. And it wasn't just for him; I was lying to myself because I didn't want to lose the first friend I ever really got close to.

And then he fell into a coma and I used that as an excuse to do something I should have at least have the nerve to say to his face. I keep thinking how he'll wake up only to have one of the people he considers a friend and risked his life for suddenly ignoring him, probably thinking I'm scared of him or something and I wouldn't have the nerve to tell him the truth!

So, with all that, how am I being hard on myself? Can you really say that I'm being hard on myself?"

Yuri was silent for a moment. "…Honestly, you're saying that to someone who also desperately craved companionship like that. And you see how my journey for that had an unfortunate intervention recently.

But I was able to get out of my funk because you reminded me that I shouldn't take the blame for things that are out of my control."

"But weren't you listening? This was something in my control?"

"If your father's issue with Shujinkou is something your responsible for, then wouldn't it also be fair to say what occurred on Devil's Night is my fault as well?"

"Yuri… This is something different though."

"Is it different because they are your feelings?"

Natsuki feebly shook her head.

"Believe me, Natsuki, the only one who finds your feelings a burden right now is yourself."

"…You just don't get it, Yuri."

"Ah…!"

An indescribable feeling of regret hit Yuri as she watched her friend run off.

"No… I can't indulge in self-pity right now. I have to think of some way to reach Natsuki."

Though she said that, part of her did not genuinely believe she could come up with a solution.

Perhaps the best thing I could do right now is figure out if there is someone Natsuki believes could understand her right now.