There's no way Eli-chan will leave without telling me. She might even stay here for the night instead of wanting to leave.

“Go and follow her. It's dangerous.”

“Why did you not send her home dad?”

“She immediately run off so don't blame me.”

“Be ca~reful baby... Either invite her back then yo~ur dad wi~ll send her back home.. or just make su~re she gets a safe ri~de before you leave her, okay~?”

“Alright po mom.”

“Ah. Gimme those coils hehehe... Take care kuya Mark~!”

Crystal takes the box from me while smiling innocently.

What did you do this time?

“Fuu~”

I walk away. I may still catch up with Eli-chan if she's not sprinting.

I don't know what Crystal did or say but I can't just leave Eli-chan alone this way without clearing things out.

It will be harder to communicate with her otherwise. I need to solve this now!

The whole street is silent. It's late in the night so there's no one outside anymore.

However, there are several dogs doing dog stuff.

Bloody hell!

Should I keep running? They will chase me right?

But if I slow down, I might miss Eli-chan.

Hmmmmmmmm...

Oh hell whatever.

I keep running.

*Arf!*ArF!*aRf!*

And as expected, they start chasing me while barking.

Calm down doggies. The neighborhood are already asleep.

Ah. They're fast. I need to sprint.

*arF!*Arf!*ARF!*

Fucking hell!

Do they not get tired?!

Just leave me alone.

There's nowhere to hide too but to keep running forward.

I'm near the highway— Oh.

Eli-chan.

Fuhahahahaha!

Nice.

Eli-chan is standing motionlessly seemingly waiting for a ride.

But she didn't respond when a tricycle driver stopped in front of her.

She doesn't seem to even be aware of me being chased by dogs.

She's in daze.

Oh hell. Just what did you do, li'l sis?

“Eli-chan help!”

I grab her shoulder.

“!!”

Eli-chan turns around while dexterously taking a small knife from her hips.

Her eyes are bloodshot so she looks rather angry.

Crystal.....

*Clang!*

“!”

She throws the knife into the concrete road where the leading dog was about to step on.

It immediately halts its step to warily looks at Eli-chan.

They then decided to run away immediately.

“Fuu~”

I breathe out because now I'm safe right?

Well, time for the main reason why I'm out.

“Eli-chan...”

“Mark... I...”

“Why did—”

*Swoooosh~*

What the hell..

She runs away immediately without even letting me finished what I was about to say.

I chase after her.

Hmmm.

“Eli-chan, wait! Why are you running away?”

She's not running at her full speed for some reason. I see.

“Please tell me Eli-chan. What happened?”

“...............”

She didn't even turn around— nevermind replying back to me. We are just running.

“Don't make me guess! I will not know if you don't say anything.”

“...................”

“Elizabeth!”

“........ing..”

“What? I can't hear you. Stop running away. Eli-chan!”

“It's nothing... Nevermind it.”

“What? No way. Don't lie to me.”

“I am not..!”

“Then tell me why did you suddenly left!”

“It's nothing....”

Bloody hell...

“It is not ‘nothing’!”

I'm starting to get tired.

“Eli-chan, stop running!”

“....go ho..me... Mark...”

“I won't until you answer me. I have questions for you. Will you just let our relationship crumble like this?”

“I........”

“Just answer me please... What happened while I was gone? What did Crystal do or say to you?”

“...........”

“Do not listen to her... She's a sadist. She wants to destroy our relationship. Don't let her get to you Eli-chan!”

“......she's.... I..”

“Crystal is going against us.. But my parents aren't. They actually like you. So there's no need to listen to her. Hey!”

Kindly turn around then talk to me Eli-chan.

“What's the problem?”

“.......... There's no problem...”

We've been running for minutes yet you're still going on with that.

I'm sprinting..

*Swooooosh~*

“!”

She starts sprinting too.

*Swooooosh~*

I'm still faster than you Eli-chan... Too bad.

“!!”

I hug her tightly from behind while turning us around.

I use my back against the electric pole to stop our momentum.

*Bam!*

“Agh...”

That fucking hurts!

My back hurts and I'm tired so I slide against the pole then I sit on the roadside with Eli-chan on my lap.

“.................”

“.................”

Now then...

“Why...?”

Hmm..

“What do you mean by that?”

“..........Why are you outside..? It's dangerous...”

“I can protect myself...”

“Yet you are so scared of those dogs.”

Uwaah... That hits deep.

“I should be asking you ‘Why did you suddenly leave?’ rather than you asking me why I left the house.”

“........ it's late..”

“Fucking liar...”

“I am not....”

“Fine. Then why did you leave all of sudden?”

“Because it's late—”

“Yeah right. Now tell me the problem. What did Crystal do to you?”

“Nothing..”

“It isn't!”

“It is....”

“Oh hell.. alright then. What did she say to you?”

“Nothing.”

“.................”

Fucking hell.

“Eli-chan...”

“.................?”

“.................”

“.................”

“....I don't want us to break up.”

“.................”

“I don't know what Crystal did or said to you but I don't want us to break up due to her. I already said this, she is having fun breaking us.”

“She's just..... protec...ting you...”

“What? From who? From you?”

“.................”

She didn't respond.

“No she is not. You don't know her... She's a sadist.”

“.................”

I whisper to Eli-chan.

“Don't listen to her Eli-chan...”

“But...... I... am...”

“What?”

“Nevermind...”

Fuck.

“I've been meaning to ask this Eli-chan...”

“.................?”

“You know why I brought you home right?”

“.................”

She didn't reply.

“My purpose is to prove to you that mom will not interfere in our relationship.”

“.................”

“This all started when mom called you right? It triggered you. It made you insecure.”

“.................”

“That's why I brought you home to reassure you. But not just that, I also wanted to introduce you to my family.”

“.................”

“It turns out they already knew you though.”

“!”

Eli-chan flinches. This reaction..

“So you guys really do know each other already. That's great. Then you can be rest assured that they won't dislike you. They actually like you you know. You've seen it yourself. But... That's not what I wanted to ask...”

“.................”

“Have we...”

“.................”

“Have we met before, Eli-chan?”

“!!!”

She flinches strongly this time.

We did huh. Oh hell. I don't remember.

“.................”

“.................”

“Eli-chan...”

“.................”

“.................”

“.................”

So she won't answer me.

Onto the next one.

“I really wanna patch our relationship. As soon as possible.”

“.................”

“I don't actually know why you aren't believing what I say. I tried to prove it to you a lot of times that I didn't lie. But you're so stubborn. I thought it was due to your personality but I was wrong. It's a variable here but that's not the main reason why you're so obstinate.”

“.................”

“I know how much you like me Eli-chan. You've been with me all this time and you've been protecting me. There's no way you will just want to break our relationship apart just because of a misunderstanding. It will anger you.. but you will do your best to clear it with me.”

“.................”

“Yet it isn't what you're doing. You're more eager to leave than solve it instead.”

“.................”

“I would have let you go if you no really longer wanted to be with me.”

“.................”

“However, that's not what I'm noticing. All this time, you keep acting like you don't want me but you shows otherwise. You made a deal with me— you wanted me to woo ma'am Iris in exchange for you not suddenly breaking up with me. That sounds like an excuse... Hence I played along with you.”

“.................”

“You are also taking care of my things in your residence. You are extremely anxious when you were baking those breads. You are worried about your appearance in front of my dad. You wanted to be friends with Crystal.”

“.................”

“Therefore, I am confused. You act like you wanted to leave me but is showing the opposite. You wanted to be with me. You enjoy my company.. yet why?”

“.................”

“It's pointless for me to keep analyzing the reason behind your actions because I will not know unless you tell me so Eli-chan. Please tell me. Why?”

“.................”

“Why do you want to leave me?”

“.................”

“.................”

“.................”

“!”

Something drips onto my arm.

“Are you crying?”

“.................”

“I didn't mean to make you cry... I just wanna know.”

“....You.... said....... me... go.. ight...?”

What?

“You said.... You'll... You will let me go... if I really wanted to leave... right..?”

She's shaking.

“Yes.. if that's what you really want.”

I mean, it will be pointless to keep you if you don't want to be with me. Our desires are clashing. We can't coexist that way.

But is that what you really want...?

“Then...”

“.................”

“.... let's break up...”

“Were you listening to me..?”

“.................”

“You don't really wanna leave. You like to be with me.”

“.................”

“You like me...”

“That's...”

Eli-chan turns around to me with bloodshot eyes. She's glaring at me while gritting her teeth.

“That's just you being narcissistic.”

“No—”

“Yes IT is!”

“It's not. That's not what I'm noticing—”

“WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ME MARK?!”

“.................”

“You don't know me... You don't know anything at all... You don't even remember me...”

Hmmmm... Is that why?

“Are you mad because I don't remember you...?”

“That's not it!”

“Then tell me! I'm not an esper. Do you expect me to read your mind?”

“I.... Forget it. We're breaking up anyway. There's no need for you know.”

“Tell me.”

I hug her tight so that she can't run.

“Let me go...”

“Tell me first. Who are you?”

“Grrrrrt... I will hit you... I will really hit you.”

“Who are you Eli-chan?”

“There's no need for you to know...”

“Yes I do.”

“No.. you're not. We're breaking up tonight.”

“We're not. I will not let you go because I know you like me.”

“I don't! So let me go!”

“Then tell me why do you wanna leave despite the fact that you like me Elizabeth!”

“Because I DON'T ANYMORE!!”

“You're lying..”

“I am not! I hate you Mark. I don't like you anymore so let me go or I WILL HIT YOU!”

“Why would you hate me? You need to explain that to me. Why?”

“THERE'S NO NEED FOR EXPLANATION! I HATE YOU!! IT IS SIMPLE AS THAT!”

*SmACk!*

“Kaaaggh—!”

Oh.... Oh hell... She hit my diaphragm.

“Aaaagghh~”

Eli-chan takes that chance to get away from me. Well, I have no strength to hold her down because it hurts and it's hard to breathe.

“This...”

I can't believe she'll hit me that hard... Agggh.. I can't breathe bloody hell.

“We're done Mark. Kindly leave me alone. I don't want you anymore.”

“.................”

Fucking liar.

Don't cry when you say something like that... Agggh...

It hurts....