Chapter 2

Moving is hard, you thought as you stood in the entranceway of your new home. Really, it was more like your new prison.

It sucked leaving behind everything familiar to you in favor of something completely unknown. Seeing all your belongings packed away in organized boxes felt like someone popped the top off of your skull like a cookie jar and started compartmentalizing your brain for you.

At least you didn’t have to do any of the packing and unpacking yourself. “We have people do that for us, sweetness,” Minoru said, shooing you away when you offered to help the moving guys carry a couple of the lighter boxes out to the truck.

It was obvious from her bossiness, her voice -so very rarely raised- ringing out in your new home, that she wanted it done a particular way. She would never dirty her hands by doing it herself, though.

The hair on the back of your neck raised and you turned around to see Oshiro standing in the doorway, holding a box marked FRAGILE THIS WAY UP.

“Move it, princess,” she grunted, hefting the box a little further up in her arms. You didn’t move, just held out your hands to take the box from her. She handed you the box with a raised brow. You let the box slip out of your arms, fall on its side on the hardwood floor. Something inside audibly broke.

She let her head fall back and groaned, “You’re such a brat.” Feeling especially petty, you gave the box a kick hard enough to flip it completely upside-down. “It’s fine… We’ll just tell Minoru it’s the moving company’s fault.”

“I’m telling her you did it,” you said quite simply, shrugging one shoulder. She’d believe you over Oshiro any day of the week, too. Minoru and Oshiro still didn’t get along. The only thing they seemed to agree on was you. It was beyond frustrating.

She snarled, shoulder-checked you as she entered the house. “Do it,” she growled, threateningly. She was all bark, though. Like an attack dog, she wouldn’t bite until Minoru told her to.

Were you always so spiteful, such a hateful little thing? Living with yanderes did strange things to a person. You tested your limits a lot in the beginning, to see what you could get away with and what warranted punishment. Nothing was set in stone. It felt like your leash tightened and slackened depending on the time of day. But you were allowed to act out in little ways, like this.

You kicked the box of broken valuables out of the entranceway so none of the moving men would trip over it. Then you started to explore the house. It was fairly large. You counted two-stories, four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms. Then again, it didn’t matter if it had six bedrooms. You’d still be sharing a bed with Minoru. She liked to keep you close. Speaking of close…

“Aina,” Minoru called from somewhere down the hall. You could hear her kitten heels clicking on the hardwood floors.

Your buzz wavered. You pulled a Perrier bottle filled with vodka from your messenger bag and took several large gulps. It tasted like poison. Probably because it was poison. All alcohol was. Still, you learned to tolerate it.

Months of Minoru’s “care” turned you into a functional alcoholic. If you were drunk, she wouldn’t force-feed you any of her “medicine.” That’s how Kimiko died, after all. She went to sleep after mixing prescription drugs with alcohol and ended up choking on her own vomit. Minoru couldn’t afford to lose her one and only princess.

“Aina,” she repeated sternly, placing a hand on your shoulder and turning you around to face her. You swayed on your feet. Her face scrunched up at the smell of vodka on your breath. She brought both hands up to cup your face. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine.” She made a face like she didn’t believe you. Fair. It was obvious the move had been hard on you.

“Follow me,” she sighed before gesturing behind her. You followed her into the master bedroom with its own attached bathroom. “This will be our room.” Called it, you thought, eyes glazed over as you looked at the queen-sized bed. Still, you walked over to sit on it. The mattress was like a cloud. Only the best for the queen. Or, rather, the witch.

Then she walked over to the wardrobe and opened it up. The furniture was all new and moved in already. Now it just needed to be filled with clothes and other belongings. “I was thinking of putting a shrine to your parents in here,” she whispered sympathetically.

You scowled. What a farce. You wouldn’t need a shrine to Aina’s parents if she hadn’t killed them.

You had no proof. Of course there was no proof. This was the rich and powerful Minoru.

But you had been so close to escaping her. You’d been accepted to a university across the country from where she and Oshiro were going. Aina’s parents approved and agreed to pay for your education.

You never told Minoru but, somehow, she found out anyway. “One last slumber party,” she wheedled. “We might never see each other again…” You thought it was weird that Oshiro wasn’t invited. It was just you and her alone in her enormous mansion.

But the very next morning, Aina’s mom and dad were both dead. “Double suicide,” the police declared. “They flooded the house with carbon monoxide. It’s lucky you were out or else they might have killed you too.”

You were a constant presence in the police station for weeks, trying to make them reopen the case, trying to convince them it was a homicide. Aina’s parents had no history of mental illness. Plus, they saw suicide as something dishonorable.

Suddenly, you were left penniless. The life insurance company wouldn’t pay because they died by suicide. And they died without leaving behind a will, so suddenly all their money and belongings were up for grabs.

Aina’s extended family came into town to bicker over stuff but not one of them would take you in. “You’re eighteen, Aina. You’re an adult now. I’m sure you’ll figure something out,” your aunts and uncles said.

And there was Minoru, standing by with open arms and a shoulder to cry on. “Baby, baby, baby,” she said, “You’ll always have a place with me. Of course, we’ll have to make a few changes to your post high school graduation plans. It’s not too late to apply to the University of Tokyo…”

You beat the shit out of her that day at school, called her every nasty word on God’s green earth. Her only relief was the teachers dragging you away.

Then you weren’t just a destitute child. You were a destitute child facing assault charges. You were an adult in the eyes of the law and the Satomi’s knew the judge, so you were looking at three years in prison.

“Unless I drop the charges,” she said casually after your first court date. It was raining outside the courthouse, and she came up to share her umbrella with you, as if nothing happened. You couldn’t stop admiring the shiner you had given her, how big and blue it was against the hazel of her eyes. “Just come home, sweetness. I’ll forgive you.”

If it was Minoru or jailtime, you would take Minoru. You never apologized, though. You weren’t the one in need of forgiveness.

“I don’t want to rebuild the shrine to my parents. I don’t need it anymore.” It wasn’t to help you through the grief process. You were stuck on anger anyway. You didn’t think you’d ever get over it. At least not until you were no longer living with Aina’s parents’ murderer.

No, the whole reason Minoru built that shrine in the first place was to remind you of the power she held. Try to run away again and more people will die.

“Obviously you do, or you wouldn’t be behaving like this,” she argued with a huff before walking over to sit next to you on the bed. “You don’t need to bottle up your feelings-“

“Get me a therapist,” you droned, already knowing her answer.

“Baby, you don’t need a therapist. You have me. Why won’t you talk to me?” She deserved an award for best actress. She sounded genuinely hurt. She raised a hand to card through your hair or stroke your back, but you got up before she made contact with you.

“I have to pee,” you said, making a beeline for the bathroom.

You slammed and locked the door behind you before pressing your back to it and sliding down. I will not cry for this girl, you told yourself, even as your eyes started to water and your breath began to come out in sobs. I will not cry.

You looked up to glare at the camera in the corner, watching your every hiccup and hitch.

As far as you had seen, they were in every room of the house. The security system was likely the prime reason Minoru bought this house. There were other houses, houses closer to campus, but this was the only one in the vicinity that let you watch your guests shit.

This semester is going to be fun, you thought to yourself as you swallowed hard around all your sorrows.