Chapter 30

"Sam is not going to hear us, right?" The nurse asks.

"No." Lily looks at Sam's vital signs. "We made sure he will stay like this for a few days."

"That's good. Well? Let's continue what you girls were doing. I'm waiting. Go on. What are you waiting for? Touch him." The nurse looks at them with a cold smirk on her face.

"H...hi there. Long time no see!" Yui shivers upon seeing that smile. She remembers the last time she encountered this person in front.

Yuno stops immediately her hands from touching Sam, thinks for a little while, and sneaks underneath his patient bed.

Normally, an adult person would not be able to fit in the gap. However, thanks to Yuno's small and delicate body, she crawls inside just fine.

"If you can not see Yuno, you can not harm Yuno! Yuno is invincible!!"

"Then why don't you just go home to be safer from me?" The nurse smiles. She is fascinated by Yuno's logic.

"Yuno will not leave you alone with Sam! You will do bad things to him." Her voice comes from underneath the bed. It sounds a bit muffled through the fabric. "Yuno will protect Sam at all cost!" Her tiny fists are raised through the gap.

"Haha. You are very cute, Yuno. You too, Yui."

"Th...thanks..." Yui bites her tongue with a pale face while Yuno stays silent.

"What are you doing here?" Lily says. Her eyes filled with a sense of fear.

"Why can't I be here? Obviously, you can, they can, then why can't I? A bit of an odd question, right Lily?"

"I mean, why 'this', not your real person?" Lily looks at the nurse. "You look down on us or something?"

And the nurse just shakes her head.

"No-no-no. Please don't say it like that. We are friends. Heck. Sisters in arms, even."

She then inhales deeply.

"I'm just not that stupid. I will see only him with my real self. You girls are dangerous, after all. Always thinking about how to get rid of me. Always thinking about how to keep him for yourself...I know all of your dirty little desires. And my, you girls are very naughty."

Her non-focused eyes turn to Lily's side. The head of the nurse cracks as it moves at a ridiculous speed.

"But truth be told, I don't want to be in the same situation as you, Lily. How's the arm, by the way?" She points at the bandage on the arm of her 'friend'.

"Much better now. Thank you for asking." She puts her arm into the pocket of the lab coat.

"Don't be so defensive. I'm not doing anything weird. Not in front of him, at least."

"That's the same sentences you used before you killed our latest competitor! Her head exploded like a watermelon!!" Yuno says.

"Hey. Come on now! That's not really fair, isn't it? I did it to save you two. We all know that girl did not have real feelings towards him as we do. She was a detective, for the Goddess's sake! You wanted to dispose of her too, right, Yui?"

To which, Yui nods quietly.

"Yes."

"See. I told you so. Take a look at the reality. I'm always doing things behind his back. I would not even dare think of scheming in front of him. But you two, you did. You did it splendidly."

"What do you mean?" Yuno asks.

"What do I mean? Yui, why don't you tell your sister what I mean?"

"Yuno...it...it's the burn on Lily's arm..."

"Really good, Yui and Yuno. Magnificent show. Couldn't have done it better myself."

Her head looks around the room. It cracks as it turns in an abnormal way.

"We have to keep our spirits up, girls. It will all make sense in the end. Now, there are only 4 of us. I like this number!"

The nurse nods slowly as she continues. With her head still oddly leans to the side, the scene is eerie, to say the least.

"4 is a good number. Not too small, not too big. Just right."

"There used to be 10. You single-handedly murdered 4." Lily stares at the nurse.

"And you two did well with one. Lily did one. Yay team, am I right?" The nurse claps her hands cheerfully.

"Okay. Jokes aside, I am here for two things. First, to take a good look at MY man." She walks towards his side.

Her face is still the same kind of uncanny look, yet the air around her is different. Lily, who is the nearest to her, instinctively feels calmer.

The nurse just stands there for fifteen minutes, only looking and not saying a word. At this point, the wide pupils very slightly contract. She is trying to focus on her vision.

Her hand moves forward while it trembles. It is about to touch him. It desperately wants to touch him. When the distance is only an inch between her hand and his body, it stops in midair.

On the nurse's face are two lines of tears.

"I hate you, Sam. You are just a fucking dumbass. I just hate you so very very much. I would kill you if I could. Just wait and see what I'm going to do to that bitch."

"What is everyone doing? Why is it so quiet up there?" From underneath the bed, a girl says.

No one answers her.

Sensing the weird atmosphere, Yuno stops herself from talking.

After standing there for a while, the nurse pulls the gown back to its original position. Moreover, she grabs the blanket which has been on the side and tucks Sam in lovingly.

She never touches him.

"He will feel cold in this temperature. Better let him stay under the blanket."

"You don't want to see it?" Lily asks out of curiosity.

"Of course I do. But not with this body. I want to be able to touch him with my own two hands." She says with a sad voice.

"Okay. Let Sam rest. Now, we need the second objective of mine today. Which is to discuss our next move against Bianca. Yui, Yuno, would you mind?"

Yuno crawls out from underneath the bed. Her lips can be seen mumbling something like a curse.

"Always forcing us...*Mumble*...Never get some time alone with him *Mumble*...I hope you slip on a banana...*Mumble*"

Yui gives out her little hand to help her older sister and pulls her upright.

Lily stands away from the door and walks towards the center as she knows what is going to happen.

As soon as Yuno stands up, the wind starts to move from within the room itself, forming something that looks vaguely like a transparent bubble of air around the people.

Wind Magic: Sound Proof.

""We're good.""

"Thank you, girls. Okay. Let us begin our meeting like Lily suggested yesterday. Come, come. Take a seat. Make yourself at home." The nurse returns to her usual self.

"This is my father's hospital. It is technically MY home." Lily says uncomfortably.

"Don't sweat the details. It's not relevant. What is yours is mine."

"And what is mine is also mine?"

"Exactly! 1000 points for Yui. You remember it very well!!"

"You know,..." Lily says. "I like you way more online than offline."

"Aw! Thank you! I appreciate that a lot."

"That is not a compliment!"

"It is to me, though."

"Okay. Let me go first. Do you guys have any idea how to solve the situation?"

Lily: "..."

Yui: "..."

Yuno: "..."

Lily: "The thing is we do not have the resources necessary to counter such a cyber-attack like that."

Yui: "It is true. The snowball has been growing exponentially, unless we are the internet itself, people like us can't stop the scandal surrounding Sam at the moment."

Yuno: "...Yuno has a headache already."

They all look down dejectedly, feeling useless. Except for Yuno. She is not the type that would worry that much. Her sister is the one who does such things among the two.

The nurse sits still and listens to the conversation.

"There is one thing that should not be done, ...that is to stop the drama." Lily says tiredly. "We don't need to counter the effects at this point. It is too late, anyway. Trying to remove the post will only lead to more chaos."

"That's right. If we did try to get it removed, people would have thought Sam even worse. 'If you were innocent, why did you have it removed?' They would say." Yui agrees.

Lily: "We can't make the people that came out saying Sam was the culprit disappear, either."

Yui: "That would make it seem very suspicious, and the investigation will be placed upon him."

Lily: "No way to stop the spreading, and the witnesses can't be touched at this point...*sigh* This is frustrating..."

Yui: "The only way to protect Sam from being harmed would be to tell him to stay at home...That is just impossible. He is pretty stubborn."

Yui breaths out heavily.

Yuno, having nothing else to do, starts sitting on the bed and stroking Sam's hair.

The other three instantly stare at her similar to a predator looking at its prey.

"What? You people just do your thinking alone. Don't mind me. I'm just a muscle head."

Yuno keeps on stroking Sam's hair.

"Such a handsome guy." There are hearts in her heterochromatic eyes.

""'He is!""" The three nod all at once.

Then silence.

"We need to create an even bigger drama." The nurse says.

Lily replies quickly.

"True. If we can, people will just flock to the bigger scandal."

"But what should we be doing? Making up a drama is easier said than done." Yui is a little doubtful.

"I have something."

The nurse takes out a camera.

"This is the result of our combined efforts yesterday."

She looks at Yui and Yuno.

The two shiver. They do not remember a thing.

"Did you do 'that' to us again?" Yuno points at the nurse.

"What is that?" She grins.

"It was strange. Because we were already waiting for Sam at the hospital this morning." Yui tries to freshen her memories.

"When did Yuno leave the house? Yuno remembers it was dark when we left."

"Yui, too."

They are getting spooked out for real.

To help them stabilize, the nurse says.

"Maybe I did something."

""What did you do to us this time?"" They stare at the nurse but she is completely unfazed.

"Doesn't matter. Let's take a look at our recordings, shall we?"