NOVPUBWhat if I just ignored her completely? But if I did that... would she end up holding a grudge against me?
I could tell from the color of her [Title] that Lan Hua was clinging to me out of love. And judging by all the signs, she was definitely one of those legendary yandere-type girls...
I always thought girls like that only existed in anime and manga. But I actually ran into one myself? This has to be one of those freakishly rare events. I guess... I’m lucky?
Ugh, being targeted by a yandere is not a good thing. My mind flashed with all sorts of horrifying images—being locked up, tied down, force-fed, hunted... even sliced up with a cleaver...!
I shrank back and winced.
Calm down. Even a yandere isn’t going to kill someone out of the blue. If someone actually went around murdering people on a whim, they’d just be a straight-up lunatic—a shallow-minded criminal.
That one messed-up case with Yuno Gasai from Future Diary? That kind of extreme yandere is the rarest of the rare. Most don’t go that far.
Let me try digging up everything I know about yandere girls from my memory—see if I can make sense of this.
Typically, a yandere doesn’t directly cause problems for the male lead, because being with him is the entire point for her. She’ll just try to eliminate anything or anyone that gets in her way.
Usually, she’ll endure. She’ll keep enduring. And only when she’s reached her absolute limit—only when she can’t hold back anymore—will she finally take action.
And once the male lead finds out about her twisted behavior, she’ll slip into full stalker mode. Just like what Lan Hua’s been doing lately...
That’s when it gets dangerous. If the male lead does something stupid—like fall for another girl or start two-timing—then the yandere flips. She spirals into full-on madness. That’s when the horrifying murder scenarios start showing up...
So that means there is a way to deal with her. If I go the opposite route—if I respond to her feelings—I can keep things relatively peaceful between us. Hell, in some cases, it might even lead to a kind of twisted happiness...
“But that’s not even possible!”
I shut down my own theory the moment I finished working it out.
Respond to her? I literally just rejected her!
Aaaahh! What the hell is going on?! I don’t get it at all!
Lan Hua is fundamentally different from the average yandere girl in one very critical way—she knows I already have a girlfriend! She was right there when Lillian confessed to me!
And I didn’t pull any dumb crap like two-timing either. I clearly and firmly turned Lan Hua down.
With that in mind, shouldn’t she be out for blood right now? Shouldn’t her love have turned into hatred, and she’s out to kill me or something?
But instead, she’s... sending me creepy texts in the middle of the night?
And judging from the tone—using emoji, flirting—it doesn’t even seem like she’s in a bad mood. Honestly, she sounds kinda happy.
What the hell...?
I don’t get it! Help me, Big Sensei!
I guess all that manga and novel “experience” isn’t worth jack right now...
Bzzz bzzz—
2017-4-4 01:35
[Are you wondering, Ethan, why I’m still clinging to you even after you rejected me?]
“...”
Can she read minds or something?
No emoji this time... she must be serious.
I thought about it and replied:
[Yeah. I don’t get it.]
A moment later, she sent another message.
2017-4-4 01:37
[I don’t blame you, Ethan. In fact, I love you even more now. It really hurt... but that pain just made me fall deeper~ fufufufu~]
“Ugh...”
Being told someone loves you like that—even I couldn’t help but feel a little flustered...
Then she started explaining everything. Just talking to herself, completely unprompted.
The gist of it was: She started noticing me back when we were seated diagonally in our first year of high school → By the time she realized it, she’d already fallen for me → But because she kept hesitating, she never confessed → And then Lillian confessed before she had the chance → Not wanting to accept it, she decided to steal me back → In order to understand me more, she began stalking me → And then I rejected her...
And that’s when Lan Hua revealed what she truly felt now.
She said—
[I don’t want to give up.]
[I know Lillian is your girlfriend, Ethan. But I still don’t want to give up.]
[So I’m going to—]
That ominous pause sent my thoughts spiraling. Was she... planning to do something to Lillian?!
I cut her off with a message, fast.
2017-4-4 02:02
Sent: [Aren’t you and Lillian good friends?! What are you planning to do to her?! Don’t do anything reckless, Lan Hua!]
Please, don’t snap! I mean, if she really tries anything, there’s a good chance she’ll get reverse-killed by Lillian instead!
[Something reckless...? Fufufu. Relax, Ethan. I’m not going to do anything to Lillian.]
[Since we’re friends, it’s totally fine if she shares her boyfriend with me, right? That’ll be a good way to test how deep our friendship is.]
“What the hell...?!”
[Isn’t it only natural? After all, I know you better than Lillian does, Ethan. I pay more attention to you than anyone else in the world!]
Then she sent a huge dump of information—about me. Personal data. So detailed it made my scalp go cold.
Not even a private detective could’ve pulled this off.
Completely insane...!
She even listed things I hadn’t realized about myself. It was so detailed, it actually made me feel this... weird kind of admiration from sheer effort alone.
Just reading that data was enough to know exactly who I was as a person.
Wait... hang on...
A sudden thought lit up in my head. I remembered something else that had been bothering me lately.
Could I... maybe use Lan Hua to find someone like me?
But using a yandere... ugh, that just reeks of a death flag.
I’ll just note that idea down for now. Whether I act on it or not... I’ll decide later.
2017-4-4 02:12
[Right now, it’s enough just to be able to look at you, Ethan... I’m watching you now. And I’ll keep watching forever~ fufufu~]
Ugh! She said she’s watching me right now! Through what?! A camera?!
I fired off a message.
Sent: [Did you install surveillance cameras in my room?!]
Based on how intense the sensation was, I was almost certain there was more than one.
Where are they?!
I tore through the room again, but found nothing. It had to be pinhole cameras.
2017-4-4 02:20
[Yep~ I had to be able to see you all the time, Ethan~ Fufu. You're so adorable, you know? No matter how much you search, you won’t find them.]
She must’ve broken into the house yesterday while I was out shopping with my sisters and installed them. That had to be it. The house was empty the whole day.
But where exactly...
Nope. There was no way I was going to find them like this...
Shit, suddenly I didn’t want to stay in this room anymore. It felt... wrong. Like I was trapped in a glass box. Like I didn’t have a shred of privacy.
But if I left my room—where else could I go to sleep...?
Should I just crash on the couch in the living room?
2017-4-4 02:22
[It’s useless, you know~? Your whole house is within my field of vision now. Oh... but I didn’t put anything in your sisters’ room. Fufufu... Ethan, you’re not thinking of going to sleep with your sisters, are you?]
“...!”
It was just text. Silent words. And yet... I could hear her voice. At the end of that sentence, her tone turning icier by the second.
If I did go sleep with Serena and Cora... she might actually lose it completely.
Not that I was planning to do that anyway.
If I did... it’d be like jumping from the frying pan straight into the fire. Even if someone slammed a door on my head, I wouldn’t be dumb enough to make that choice!
So that left me with only one option to hide from Lan Hua’s gaze...
I jumped into bed, pulled the blanket over my head, curled into a ball, and fused with my comforter to become a “blanket monster,” leaving just a tiny air hole so I could breathe.
If I couldn’t figure out where she was... then I’d just hide myself!
Bzzz bzzz—
One last message came through. The final one for the night.
2017-4-4 02:22 n𝚘𝚟pub.𝚌o𝚖
[Fufufu~ You look just like a little hamster right now, Ethan—so cute~ Good night, my little mouse~ (づ3)づ╭❤mua]
“......”
I was in my own room. And yet... I felt no safety at all.
I was wrapped up in blankets. And yet... I felt frozen to the core.
Damn it... just like she said, I really do feel like a hamster locked in a cage...
Unease gnawed at my chest. My mind spiraled. I didn’t even know when it happened—but at some point, I passed out from sheer exhaustion...
...
When I finally snapped awake in the morning—I immediately realized I was screwed.
“Ohhh crap!!”
I actually... overslept!
Lillian’s birthday party was at eight o’clock—and it was already seven-thirty!
Based on the address Ms. Shirley gave me, there was no way I’d make it in thirty minutes... And I still had to wash up and change! No matter how I sliced it, I was definitely going to be late.
Ugh... this is so humiliating...
It’s all because of Lan Hua and her psycho messages last night. They completely threw me off. The second I started thinking about hidden cameras and listening devices in my room, there was no way I could sleep properly.
And yet, thanks to pure mental exhaustion... I still ended up passing out in the end.
But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that—I had to move, fast!
I rushed to wash up, threw on my suit, said a quick goodbye to my sisters, and bolted out the door.
There was no way I’d make it in time using the normal route.
Then I remembered—Black Street.
If I cut through that place, I might actually make it to the party on time!
Ugh... desperate times. Let’s gamble on it!
To shave off time, I headed straight for Beishan Park, arriving at the vending machine I always used.
A homeless man was lying on the bench nearby, covered in newspapers.
And then I realized something strange—it had all been cleaned up. Completely restored. Not a drop of blood. Not even a hint of the smell. The place was spotless.
Kan Tsukiyo did say someone would come clean it up... but who the hell are those people?
No time to worry about that now.
I remembered that Snowy and I had taken a little side path that day... I followed it again, looping around, but for some reason, I still couldn’t get into Black Street.
Huh? Did I take the wrong path? Why did I end up back at the vending machine?
“Hey, kid. What’re you looking for?”
The homeless man lifted his newspaper and gave me a grumpy look.
“Uh... I’m looking for a certain street...”
“Ah, I get it. You’re looking for Black Street, right? Damn kids these days—can’t even find a proper route. Come on. I’ll take you there. Quit pacing around—you’re giving me a headache!”
“Uh... thanks, I guess...”
The guy yawned, scratched his head, flinging off a spray of dandruff, and led me down a side alley. After a short walk, just before the exit, he stopped and pointed ahead.
“There. Go a little further and you’re in Black Street.”
“Wait... but I already took this path earlier...”
“Just go, kid! Why the hell are you yapping so much? Go on, get in there!”
“Wah—!”
He kicked me hard in the ass, and I stumbled forward.
When I finally caught my balance and looked around—
I was already in Black Street.
