“One more time…”

Yami’s eyes jutted open as he felt a tug on his arm. Rikai’s hand was tugging at his sleeves. Uncrossing his arms, Yami stood up from the wooden chair he was sleeping in and walked close to Rikai.

“What is it?”

“Wa.. wat…”

“Water?”

Rikai nodded her head and Yami patted her hand back onto her bed.

“Be right back.”

Yami exited her room and walked down the dark hallway and down the stairs, finding himself in the kitchen. Grabbing a glass from one of the cabinets, Yami filled it about halfway from the sink. Walking back up the stairs, he noticed that Make’s door was cracked open.

“I wonder what she’s doing this time of night?”

Yami continued down the hall to find that Rikai’s door was open, and the girl in question was missing.

“What the hell? Rikai?”

Setting the water onto the night table next to her bed, he walked back into the hallway towards Make’s room. He lightly knocked on the door.

“Make, you in there?”

…

“I’m coming in…”

Yami slowly opened the door. Make’s bed was empty.

“Make?”

As Yami walked in, he heard the floor on the other side of the bed creak.

“Hey, you alright?!”

Yami walked around to the other side of the bed. He suddenly froze and his breathing slowed yet became more shaky alongside his body.

“What.. what’re you doing, Rikai?”

Rikai laid on the floor with her hands on a knife that was lodged in her stomach.

“Hey! This isn’t funny!”

Yami crouched down and rolled Rikai onto her back and began to examine her. Her eyes were lifeless and her body was cold.

“How did this happen,” Yami whispered to himself? As Yami shook his head in desperation, he snuck a glance under Make’s bed. His eyes widened in horror and he threw up onto Rikai’s corpse. Wiping his mouth, Yami reluctantly reached underneath the bed and gripped something fleshy. Dragging it out with his eyes closed, a sloshing sound reverberated throughout the room. Feeling the object bump into him, Yami opened his eyes and choked on his own screams. Make had multiple stab wounds all over her body.

“W-wha…”

Blood came out of Yami’s mouth and he tumbled over.

A tear rolled down his cheek as he saw Rikai walk out of the room with a knife in her hand.

Yami’s eyes jutted open as he felt a tug on his arm. Rikai’s hand was tugging at his sleeves. Throwing her hand off of him, Yami knocked over the chair as he quickly stood up.

“Wa… water…”

Yami’s eye twitched, but he soon shook his head.

“It was all just a dream after all…”

“Yeah, one second.”

Yami began down the hallway, but quickly paused.

“Just in case…”

Yami turned around and locked Rikai’s room, then carefully opened Make’s room. Yami immediately let out a sigh of relief as he saw Make calmly sleeping in her bed. As he locked the door, Yami turned around to see Rikai’s face less than an inch away from his.

“Rikai?”

“But I locked her room! I should’ve heard it!”

As Yami attempted to look down for an attack, he was distracted by Rikai’s kiss. As her tongue entered his mouth, he tried to push her off, but Rikai only pushed herself onto him harder. Her saliva was starting to fill his mouth.

“She’s never like this… what the hell is going on?”

Suddenly, Yami began to feel weak.

“What’s going on? My arms are feeling so heavy…”

As Rikai let herself off of Yami, her tongue erotically remained outside of her mouth.

“Wait, this… isn’t her… spit…”

Yami fell onto the ground limply as foam poured out his mouth.

Yami’s eyes jutted open as he felt a tug on his arm. Rikai’s hand was tugging at his sleeves. Yami began to breathe irregularly.

“Wa… water…”

Yami grabbed Rikai’s hand and pulled her up from the bed. She could hardly stand.

“Ya...mi?”

“No more chances. You’re coming with me.”

Practically dragging Rikai down the hall, she pawed at him with her free hand in an attempt to get loose. As they reached the stairs, Rikai cautiously stepped down them, but Yami did not slow, causing her to tumble down the stairs. Letting out a high pitch squeal similar to that of a dog being kicked, Yami ran over to the cabinet and grabbed a glass. Filling it with water, he ran over to Rikai who was silently crying on the floor.

“Rikai, quick! Drink this!”

Rikai shakingly reached for the glass, but as Yami let go, she dropped it to the floor, shattering it.

“Damn it!”

Rikai cowered in fear as Yami yelled. Yami raced to the cabinets once again, and within a moment was back with Rikai. Using his free hand, he held her back upright, then placed the glass against her lips.

“Here we go.”

Rikai opened her mouth and as Yami poured the water into her mouth, she graciously swallowed every drop. Once the glass was empty, Yami set it beside him and wrapped his arms around Rikai.

“Are you alright now? Please, tell me you’re okay!”

Rikai whimpered into his shoulder.

“Yami… I’m scared… Help me…”

“It’s alright now. We can stay just like this until you get better.”

“Yami! Help me!”

Yami spit blood onto Rikai’s back. In Yami’s shoulder blade was a long fragment of the glass that had shattered held by Rikai’s hand.

“I’ll hold you here so you can’t kill anyone else.”

“Yami… It’s too late…”

Rikai began to stab him repeatedly while sobbing.

“Rikai, listen to me carefully. I might not be able to be delicate with you for now, but I promise I’ll do everything I can to end this.”

“Why is this happening?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll find a way out of it…”

“Yami… I love you..”

Yami’s arms fell limp as he tumbled onto the floor. Rikai whimpered as she walked up the stairs with the glass shard in hand.

Yami’s eyes jutted open as he felt a tug on his arm. Rikai’s hand was tugging at his sleeves. Yami stood up from his chair.

“Ya...mi…”

“It’s alright, I’ll find a way out of this.”

Yami looked out of the window into the moonlight for a moment to think.

“We have about 2 minutes until she can’t control herself anymore, but past that…”

“Rikai, what happens when you lose control?”

“Dry… throat…”

Yami slid his hand down the door and withdrew a bottle of water and uncapped it, then helped Rikai drink it. After half a bottle of water and a deep breath, Rikai began to explain through gasps for air.

“I kill all of you guys... then I jump into the river... and when I drown... I see a bright flash of light... then I wake back up...”

“A flash of light? Like white light?”

Rikai nodded her head.

“I have an idea.”

Yami slid his hand down the door once more, then helped Rikai stand up.

“C’mon.”

Yami led Rikai into a room with a bed and a fridge full of food.

“Sorry, but you’ll have to stay here for a bit while I research this.”

Rikai nodded her head understandably. Yami slid his hand down the door and walked into the library, making sure to lock the door behind him.

“Let’s see what I have on this…”

Yami’s eyes jutted open as he felt a tug on his arm. Rikai’s hand was tugging at his sleeves. Looking around wildly, Yami looked down at himself, then back to Rikai, who was crying uncontrollably.

“Rikai!”

Yami grabbed a water from the door and helped her drink once more.

“What happened?”

“I… I slammed my head against the wall until I... saw the light…”

Yami gritted his teeth.

“Damn it… I have no time to research this either?”

“Rikai, I’m sorry.”

“W-What?”

Yami led Rikai into the same room once again, but this time stood behind a reinforced window.

“Rikai, I need to see how you do it. I’m sorry, but I swear this is the last time.”

Rikai bawled as she realized what she had to endure once again.

“Yami… please! Don’t make me do this again! Just kill me now!”

Yami wiped his eyes.

“I love you, Rikai. I swear I’ll protect you!”

“What if I die for real this time?!?!”

Yami clenched his fists.

“You won’t. If you do, I’ll save you.”

Rikai approached the glass and wound up her fist with tears streaming down her face.

“Yami…”

Rikai punched the glass as hard as she could, even startling Yami. Seeing as how no apparent damage was done to the glass, Rikai wound up again, and as she punched the glass repeatedly, she screamed from the pain. After minutes of punching the glass, Rikai’s hands were torn and clearly broken. Rikai’s face twitched from the pain. Rikai then got closer to the glass and stared into Yami’s eyes, which were overcome with fear.

“Yami…”

Rikai tilted her head back, then slammed it as hard as she could into the glass, painting it with blood.

“RIKAI!”

Rikai continuously slammed her face into the glass, creating crunching noises and coating the glass with a fresh color. After one final slam, Rikai’s blood slumped onto the ground, and from her stomach, a brilliantly bright light began to flood the room.

“RIKAI!”

Yami’s eyes jutted open as he felt a tug on his arm. Rikai’s hand was tugging at his sleeves. Yami threw his arms around Rikai.

“I’m so sorry!”

Rikai clenched Yami tightly. Yami tried to let go off Rikai, but she only held tighter.

“Rikai, I’m going to end this. Trust me.”

Rikai silently nodded as she loosened her grip on Yami.

“Bear with me for a second.”

Yami lifted up Rikai’s shirt, helping her take it off, despite the situation, Rikai was blushing.

“This might hurt, but it should end this.”

Yami placed his right hand onto her stomach, then reached for her hand. She clutched it tightly.

“Here we go!”

Yami’s right hand strained as he injected life essence into her. Rikai jolted up from the shock, but Yami placed his shoulder onto her chest to keep her still.

“There!”

Yami slowly lifted his hand from Rikai, pulling a mixture of blue and pink life essence with it. Rikai began to scream in pain as he did so, but Yami continued. After a moment of tugging, the long strand of pink life essence that was connected to Rikai snapped, allowing a small amount to fly back into her, and the remainder began to mix with the blue life essence in Yami’s palm. Freeing his hand from Rikai’s grip, Yami lifted up his shirt and slammed his palm into his stomach, causing him to fall over in pain as a hiss came from the scene of the fusion. Rikai pulled herself off of the bed to Yami’s side.

“Ya...mi!”

Yami coughed and gasped for air, but then checked his watch. He smiled in relief.

“Rikai… It’s been three minutes since we woke up…”

Rikai cheerfully cried onto Yami as he patted her head.

“It’s okay now.”

After a while, the sun began to rise, making Yami yawn.

“How about that water, Rikai?”

To his surprise, Rikai had already fallen asleep again.

Rikai opened her groggy eyes to the gentle sunshine warming her room. After wiping her eyes, she looked to the night table which had a glass of water prepared for her. Grabbing the glass, she walked down the stairs to see Make and Shitto eating a porridge. After seeing her, Make quickly wiped her mouth and stood up from the table.

“Good morning! How are you feeling?”

Rikaio rubbed her stomach.

“I’m still a little sore, and tired, but mainly hungry.”

Make smiled.

“Good thing we made extra! Have a seat!”

Rikai sat down at the table as Make began to scoop some porridge into a bowl. Shitto looked over and waved to her.

“Hey! How’d you sleep?”

“I’ve had better nights… you?”

“Like a baby! Crazy to think after everything that had happened I’d be able to sleep well, but I don’t even remember getting into bed I was so tired!”

Make sat the bowl and a spoon in front of Rikai. Rikai looked around the room.

“Where’s Yami?”

Make shrugged and shook her head.

“I’m not sure exactly. He said something about checking out the old organizations headquarters.”

“The old organization?”

Yami walked around an empty courtyard, remembering what had occurred there in Jitsubutsu’s memories. Backtracking from the courtyard, he eventually found a large door labelled ‘Director’s Office’.

“Let’s see what you left for me, Haisen.”