Note: This chapter contains mild sexual content.
-Faith, Love, and Forgiveness - Chapter Twelve - Confession-
Kamakura - Minoshira Market - Two weeks later
"Get two bags. You know how big of a cookie-hog that girl is."
It was very rare for Lucy and Yuka to run errands together by themselves, but the pink-haired girl had gradually become accustomed to doing so. While she preferred Kouta, she had warmed up to the brunette enough to go places with her out of her own free-will rather than because she was pestered into it.
"Can Diclonii get fat?" Yuka asked. "I'm kinda shocked she's not eighty kilos by now."
"No, we can't get fat. If we could, though, I'd agree with you." Lucy answered.
"Do you want anything while we're here?"
The Diclonius Queen at first declined, but settled on a small chocolate bar, which she and Yuka decided to share. The lines were usually long, at today was no exception.
"You'd think they would've opened a couple more lanes..." Lucy sighed. There were five total, but only two were in use. After almost an hour, they finally got to the front of the line.
"These chocolate bars are buy one, get one." the cashier informed them. "You want another one?"
"Sure."
Yuka stepped out of line long enough to run grab one for herself, hurrying back so they could continue checking out. As they were leaving, the anti-theft system gave an alert, and the women were ushered over to one of the closed lanes so the store's manager could inspect their bags and receipt. As is usually the case any time the anti-theft system went off, everyone else in line immediately assumed they were shoplifting.
After several more attempts, they finally found the reason for the alerts.
"You put an anti-theft strip in a ¥300 chocolate bar? Seriously?" Yuka asked.
The manager apologized repeatedly, and the two girls left without any further delays.
On the way home, Kouta called and handed the phone to Nana so she could remind them about the cookies. Yuka told the Sipelit she already bought them, and that they were on the way home now.
After hanging up, the two women chatted idly until they got home.
Sotetsu Inn - Five hours later
Arakawa was not exactly happy about her situation.
She was halfway through her time limit, but no closer to locating the other witness than she was on day one.
The college was in between semesters, but since she still had employee credentials, she was able to enter late at night and avoid any faculty members or maintenance workers who might question why she was there so late. Sitting in the library, she poured over every yearbook it had, hoping she'd get lucky and find him.
Of course, she never did.
When that was a bust, she tried going through student files in admissions. Not only did it lead nowhere, it nearly got her shot by police after a call from security about a suspicious woman possibly burglarizing the college.
Sitting in the bath, the young scientist pondered where to look next. She couldn't just go from house to house to see if she recognized him, nor could she go around asking random pedestrians if they've seen anyone matching his description. "Normal height and weight, black hair, probably between 18-25 years old." described about 500,000 guys.
Even without the bomb, she'd die of old age long before she found him.
Leaning her head back and closing her eyes, she considered going to the various businesses to see if she'd get lucky and find him working there. There was also a possibility that staking out places commonly frequented by college students would pay off.
"I got about two weeks left to live... maybe I should have just stayed at the Institute."
No... if Kakuzawa was willing to go from rape, to gang-rape, who knows where he would have gone from there?
The whole point of coming here was to find that student witness. If she could, she'd use him as a bargaining chip for finally getting away from that perverted bastard. If she couldn't, that's probably going to be the end for her.
Even if she came back early and volunteered to become a fuck-toy for the entire Institute, it probably wouldn't change anything. Knowing Kakuzawa, he'd probably accept, then blow her up anyway when they got bored of her.
"What am I supposed to do now? I don't know his name, classes are closed, and for all I know, he moved to fucking China!"
She sighed in frustration. "I guess I'll try hanging around hot spots and hope for the best..."
Kaeda House - Four hours later
After the rest of the household went to bed, Kouta and Lucy curled up on the couch together to watch TV a little longer. In reality, Lucy didn't really care much about the movie, she was just happy to be cuddling on the couch with her boyfriend.
"Yuka said you're getting a lot better in the kitchen."
The pink-haired girl smiled as Kouta spooned with her from behind. She was actually starting to enjoy helping cook meals, but didn't want to admit it outright. She was inexperienced and still needed help, but was still far better than Nana. The Sipelit had over six month's worth of experience on her, but she was a far faster learner. Nana could boil water and slice vegetables, but anything more advanced than that was at best hit or miss.
More often than not, it was "miss".
"I'll be right back."
Lucy excused herself to make a bathroom run. As she was washing her hands, Kouta came up and hugged her from behind.
At first, there was no sexual intent behind it. Then, he felt her push her hips back slightly against him. This was one of her unspoken ways of letting him know that she wanted intimacy.
Saying "I'm horny" would have been an easier way of conveying what she wanted, but Lucy preferred a bit more subtlety.
Kouta teasingly pushed his hips forward, playfully grinding against her pajama-clad ass. After that, it only took a couple of minutes for things between them to escalate sexually.
It was at that moment a half-asleep Yuka got out of bed to use the bathroom, and walked in on them.
Lucy's white cami had been pulled up high enough to expose her breasts, and Kouta had one hand on them, and the other one down the front of her PJ bottoms. They were both clothed, but that obviously wasn't going to be the case much longer. The lovers were so caught up in the moment they didn't even realize Yuka was watching until she cleared her throat to get their attention.
"Are you two having fun?"
Without waiting for an answer, Yuka immediately turned around and went to her bedroom. The two of them looked at each other in concern, silently agreeing to go after her. When they got to her room, the door was open and she was packing some of her clothes into a small suitcase.
"Yuka, we're sorry, ok? We thought you were asleep. We wouldn't have been doing th-"
Before he even finished his sentence, Yuka closed-fist punched him right in the face, giving him a nosebleed and a cut just below his eye (from the ring she was wearing) that bled significantly, but was only superficial.
Then she started screaming at him, and instantly woke up Mayu and Nana.
"You've been lying to me this WHOLE FUCKING TIME, haven't you?!"
Silently praying the pink-haired girl wouldn't do something rash, he held his bleeding nose with one hand while motioning for her to calm down with the other. Yuka was on the verge of tears as she ignored his attempts to calm the situation.
"I've asked you for months if something was going on between you two, and both of you kept insisting there wasn't! Why didn't you tell me?!"
"Yuka, we WANTED to tell you, but you always get so jealous when we spend time together." Kouta replied. Watching from the hallway, Nana didn't like the way Lucy was staring at Yuka, and when she saw Kouta bleeding, she immediately understood why she was doing it.
Honestly, Nana was kinda impressed she hadn't already taken Yuka's head off. Promise or no promise, hitting Kouta hard enough to draw blood would have had fatal consequences if the one who did it hadn't been a housemate and relative.
"And that's a reason to lie to your own cousin?! "
"Look at how you're acting. I seriously doubt you'd be forthcoming about it if you were in our position." Lucy calmly replied.
"I'm only acting like this because I was LIED TO!" Yuka yelled.
"Do you seriously expect us to believe you'd have been fine with us dating if we'd told you about it to begin with? Don't be stupid! Nobody in this house is gonna believe that load of bullshit!" Kouta yelled angrily. "All telling you sooner would've done was cause even more bitching and fighting over something that wasn't any of your business in the first place!"
When Yuka tried to hit him again, one of Lucy's vectors shot out and grabbed her hand. Nana watched the two women fearfully, stuck between wanting to act, and wanting to stay out of it.
"I understand that you're angry we didn't tell you, but that doesn't give you the right to hit him." Lucy told her in a calm, but cold tone of voice. "He may be your cousin, but he's the man I love, and I'm not going to let you or anyone else hurt him."
She let go with her vector and left the room. When she came back, she handed Kouta the damp washcloth she was holding so he could wipe the blood off his face. Turning to Yuka, Lucy walked right up to her and forced the girl to back up until she literally had her back against the wall.
She'd never seen the Diclonius Queen so enraged before.
"N-Nyu, you're really starting to scare me..." Yuka said in almost a whisper. For the first time, the brunette was legitimately, honestly afraid of Lucy.
"Good." the pink-haired girl replied, giving her the same murderous glare she'd given Bando and Nana right before she horrifically mutilated their bodies. "If you ever hit him again, I'm going to kill you."
Then, she put an arm around his waist and the two of them walked out. Nana and Mayu looked at each other and silently agreed they should stay out of it. After Kouta and Lucy left, they did the same.
Now alone, Yuka began to cry indignant tears as she packed her suitcase. She was furious at Kouta and Lucy, but was just as angry at Mayu and Nana for not openly taking her side. Once she was done, she grabbed the suitcase and stormed out of the house, calling her mother to come pick her up.
Tokyo - Hinasaki residence - Two hours later
For over an hour, Yuka's parents patiently listened as she ranted, bitched, and yelled about everything that had happened that night. Yuka saw herself as a victim in all of this. Kouta and Lucy had been lying to her for months, having an "affair" that they deliberately hid from her despite her claim that she'd have supported the relationship if they had ignored all the red flags indicating she was overly possessive and possibly bipolar and just admitted it. Then, Lucy threatened to literally KILL her after she understandably resorted to physical violence against someone who showed no physical aggression and was in the middle of trying to apologize.
They were not impressed with their daughter, to say the least.
"Why would you possibly think hitting your cousin was a good idea? You're lucky he didn't have you arrested!" her father spoke up.
"She's lucky I didn't put her over my knee, pull her panties down, and use my hairbrush on her bare bottom until she was crying like a baby." his wife said.
Just like her grandma, Yuka's mother was a little bit old-fashioned, and had no qualms about spanking her daughter if nothing else was getting through to her. They were rare, but if Yuka earned one, her mother would pull her panties down, take her over the maternal knee, and use either her hand or a hairbrush to spank her until she was a sobbing mess.
Yuka stared at her parents in shock. This wasn't exactly the response she was expecting.
"Why the hell aren't you taking MY side?! I'm your DAUGHTER!"
"And that means we're supposed to automatically side with you? Sorry, honey, but life doesn't work like that." her father said. "In case you haven't realized it, you're in the wrong here, Yuka, not them."
"How am *I* in the wrong?!"
"For starters, you hit Kouta for no reason."
"I was angry about the lying!"
"That's NOT an acceptable reason to hit someone, Yuka, and they probably wouldn't have lied if you weren't so damn possessive." her father said.
"I'm NOT possessive!" she yelled.
"Yes, you are." her mother replied. "And if you yell at your father again, me and you are going upstairs to work on your attitude."
Knowing her mother would actually follow through on her threat, the brunette wisely took a moment to calm down.
"Yuka, we've both seen you throw hissy-fits if you think Kouta's giving you less attention than he is her." her father said. "The last time we took all of you out to eat, you yelled at him in front of the whole restaurant because Nyu started coughing, and he stopped talking to you to ask her if she was ok."
"Then you started sulking because she fell asleep leaning against him on the way home." her mother added.
"He's part of MY family! What's wrong with wanting to be treated like it?"
"You don't own him, Yuka." Mr. Hinasaki replied.
"No, I don't, but I've loved him a hell of a lot longer than she has!"
"Yuka, if Kouta and Nyu want to be together, you need to accept it and let it go. I don't want to hurt your feelings, sweetie, but I think they're a pretty good match." her mother said.
To her horror, her father nodded in agreement.
Yuka looked at her parents in disbelief. "How can you expect me to just give up and let her have him?!"
"Kouta's a grown man, Yuka. HE decides who he wants to be with, not YOU." her father said.
"We know you have feelings for him, but tell me something... if the situation were reversed, how would you feel?" her mother asked.
"Reversed?"
"If a male cousin had a crush on you, but you were in love with a different boy, how do you think it'd make you feel if that cousin started acting towards you the way you act towards Kouta? Would you want the cousin to respect your choice, or would you prefer the boy you fell in love with dump you because he knows the cousin has feelings for you?"
Both of her parents could instantly see the shift in their daughter's demeanor, and knew that they'd struck gold.
For a long moment, Yuka was silent.
"Is that really what I've been doing all this time?"
Both of her parents just nodded.
"Kouta and Nyu are clearly in love with each other. If you try to come between them, they'll both hate you for the rest of your life." her mother warned. "They'll completely cut all ties with you, and won't even have them as friends anymore. I know this because I did that very thing before me and your father got married."
Yuka sat there silently, seemingly lost in thought. On one hand, she had long desired to have a romantic relationship with Kouta, and wasn't shy about admitting it. On the other hand, not having a romantic relationship with him was far better than not having ANY relationship with him.
Even if he and Nyu broke up, there's no guarantee he'd even be willing to try it. If they broke up as a direct consequence of something she did, intentional or not, Kouta would never speak to her again. Was the possibility of having a romantic relationship with him worth risking being kicked completely out of his life with no chance of being let back in?
'No... having him as a friend is still better than not having him at all.'
In the end, Yuka made the decision to honestly and sincerely support her cousin's choice. If he and Lucy were meant to be together, that's where they'll stay.
Yuka took a deep breath and sighed quietly.
"What do you think I should do?"
Kaeda House - The next evening
The next night, the brunettes parents dropped her back off at Kaeda House.
"Do you want us to come in with you?"
"No... this is something I need to do on my own."
Her parents proudly hugged her, letting her know how much they loved her. As they drove away, she took a deep breath and went inside.
As expected, Yuka burst into tears the moment she tried to apologize.
"Kouta, I'm sorry... I had no right to hit you. I..."
He smiled knowingly and held his cousin as she cried and apologized for the events of the previous night. Once she calmed down a little, she turned to Lucy.
"I'm sorry, Nyu. I put you in a very unfair situation, and I shouldn't have. I was angry that you two kept me in the dark about the relationship, though I understand why you did it. Let's just be honest here... even if you had been upfront about it, I probably wouldn't have reacted much differently."
Lucy was a bit surprised the brunette actually admitted it, but nonetheless, she accepted her apology.
"We're sorry we didn't tell you sooner."
"No..." Yuka shook her head. "I don't blame you for keeping it a secret. You're right... I really DID act like Kouta was something I owned. I... I felt like, because he's actually related to me, it meant I had more right to him than you did."
The Diclonius couldn't help but feel at least a modicum of respect for Yuka's willingness to own up to her own mistakes. When she tried to hug her, Lucy willingly hugged her back, and even let her cry on her for a couple of minutes.
"Can we all agree to be honest with each other from now on?" Kouta asked.
Both girls agreed, and the three of them group-hugged.
Watching her from the hallway, Nana smiled at her older counterpart. It was nothing short of amazing how much Lucy had changed since her return, and the young Sipelit considered it an absolute privilege to have a front-row seat to watch from.
Not one single person at the Institute believed that Lucy would ever be able to adapt and fit in with other people (human OR Diclonius). In their opinion, it was like putting a rabid dog in a room full of kittens and expecting them to coexist peacefully. The more time Nana spent with the Diclonius Queen, the more it broke her heart that nobody was willing to even consider the possibility that Lucy was more than just a soulless murderer.
"Um... since we're being totally open from now on, there's something I want to ask you..."
"Yes, we've had sex." Lucy bluntly replied.
Kouta mentally groaned at his girlfriend's spontaneous admission. 'Did she REALLY have to just blurt that out?'
And it was about to get even worse.
"I... I actually just wanted to ask if you two think you'll ever get married."
Nana had never seen Lucy blush so badly in her life. The flustered Diclonius couldn't even apologize without tripping over her words.
"Don't worry about it, I can understand why you'd think that was the question." Yuka smiled.
Lucy sheepishly smiled back, and the two girls hugged again.
Unexpectedly, this would become a turning point for Lucy and Yuka. After this, the human and Diclonius would finally let go of the past, and truly start seeing each other as friends, as well as family.
"Listen... I don't want you two moving into the same room, but I won't make a big deal out of it if you share a futon a couple of times a week."
Kouta smiled and nodded. "Thank you."
"Also... I honestly, truly am happy for you two... I know that's not easy to believe, but I... I really mean it. If I can do anything to help, just tell me."
The couple blushed, and the three of them shared an emotional hug that left both girls teary-eyed.
"Thank you..."