Chapter 2.5 - Trap

T/W: Contains offensive content (ie. physical violence, death threats)

The gathering ended as soon as it began. Horikita was the first one to depart, followed by Ike and the others. Kikyou and I were the only one's remaining in Ayanokouji's room. While Ayanokouji was busy cleaning the room, I was doing the dishes accompanied by Kikyou.

Oh how wonderful....

"I can handle the rest. You should go on now, Kikyo-san." I offered.

"No no, that won't do, Levent-kun. This is the least I could do to help you."

"But it's already late. You should head out first. The last thing you'd want is to get caught in front of a boy's room." I added.

"Hm, now that you mention it... you are right. But, are you sure you don't want me to handle the rest?" I nodded in affirmative.

It was already past evening. Normally the school would give all sorts of freedom to it's students. However, there was no way an educational institute could be that flexible. Romantic intimacy was a hard 'NO' within the border of the dorms. Of course by that I mean se-

"Yay! Thank you Levent-kun. I really appreciate it." Kikyou exclaimed in a cutesy tone.

"It's no big deal."

Kikyou carefully put down her plate. After cleaning and organizing herself, she headed towards the door. But then... suddenly she stopped right in front of the kitchen. With a stern look on her face, she looked back at me.

"Say, Levent-kun."

"Hm?" I know where this is headed.

"Do you perhaps like girls like Horikita?"

The question was meant to be asked to him, not me. Then again, why was I being the one interrogated? It seemed like I had completely replaced Ayanokouji Kiyotaka from his own story. It was never my intention to begin with. All I wanted to do was just give assistance to the D-fects, because the protagonist wasn't a reliable one. But, that's not what matters. The question is...

Have I completely diverted this from the original plot?

"Is there a reason behind that question?"

"I always see you together with her. You're the only person Horikita-san ever talks to. All the girls in class are talking about it." I agree.

I was getting too attached to Horikita. So much so, that I started attracting a lot of unwanted attention towards me. It was a good thing, for Ayanokouji. He wouldn't face any more difficulties being invisible as I was acting as his cloak.

"Horikita talks to me like she does with everyone else. If anything, she's more crude with me whenever we have a conversation."

"I don't know about that. She seems more comfortable talking to you, rather than all."

...

I'm not sure if she's mistaking comfort with fear.

"Is that so? I really haven't thought about it like that."

"Then, is it true?"

....

Do I, now?

"For now, Horikita is my friend, nothing more, nothing less. We both share a similar goal, to reach class A. That's why we're helping each other."

"I see." Kikyou replied. "I'll be going home now. Good night, Levent-kun."

"Ah, good night."

Kikyou proceeded to the other room where Ayanokouji was. What followed was the sound of the door closing. Ayanokouji appeared the next instant.

"She's gone."

"Is it still there?"

"Yes." he pointed towards the phone that was laying on his bed.

"Lucky~"

I picked up the phone. At first I was met with a lock screen, which didn't take me a second to crack. It was yesterday when I had noticed her opening her phone. 23rd January, her birth date.

According to a global research, fifty-nine percent of people use birthdays as their password. No wonder why the IT specialists are always facepalming. But to think that a secretive person like her would also be a part of this.

Good for us...

"I wonder what will happen if the words get out that you've been tempering with a girl's phone." Ayanokouji said.

"Thank you for reminding me. I appreciate it." I replied.

After I was done, I erased all the activities and perfectly covered up my digital footprint. With that I was finally ready to head out.

__________________________________________________________________

As I walked outside, I noticed a single small figure, apparently headed towards the shore. She was none other than Kushida Kikyou, the one who I was targeting. I followed without making a single sound.

When she'd reached the spot, she held on to the guard rail. The veins in her hands popped as she grabbed the railing. Her grip was that tight. I immediately stopped and hid behind a tree.

"Ahh, so annoying." so began her rant.

"You think you're so great just because you're pretty, huh?" Kushida was blowing with apparent rage. Her voice didn't contain the same charm as it did before.

"I hate you!

I swear! I hate you! I hate you. I hate you!

Just die, Horikita!"

Immediately she started kicking the guard rail. What unfolded before me was the result of holding back her emotions too much. Humans are equipped with limited emotional capacity. It's exactly like a glass of water. Say the emotions are like water. Imagine not drinking from the glass, but keep pouring water into it. If the pouring didn't stop, the water would inevitably pour all over the glass.

An individual can always hold back their emotions, but upto a certain extent. Once they exceed the limit, there would be no holding back.

No one's truly emotionless. All humans have emotions and by no means, am I an exception. Anger, Hatred, Wrath, Despair... I feel all of them. It's just that they're not strong enough to ever possibly seep out of me.

You're playing a dangerous game, Kikyou.

"I hate you! I seriously hate you, you wrenched bitch!"

That should be enough.

While holding out her phone, I walked out of the shadow.

Bzzt!!!

The phone rang, instantly exposing my location to her. Tensed, she immediately set her sights on me. "Who is it?" she asked with a low-pitched voice. I simply stood there, not uttering a single word. When she realized that it was me, Levent, her expression darkened even more.

"What... are you... doing here?" she coldly asked.

"What do you think?" I gestured towards her phone.

After seeing me holding her phone, Kikyou rushed and forcefully snatched it back. She looked straight at me, her eyes focused on mine.

"Did you hear?" she asked.

"Maybe." I replied.

"I see..."

Kikyou briskly placed her left forearm against the base of my throat, and pushed me up against a tree. Her tone of voice, her actions, everything about her was completely unlike the Kikyou she showed everyone to be. The duality of her personalities...

She reminds me of a certain existence who I had the honor of seeing everyday.

"If you tell anyone what you just heard, I won't forgive you."

"What happens if I don't cooperate, may I ask?"

"In that case, I would tell everyone that you raped me," she said.

"And how are you to prove when it's nothing but a completely false accusation?" I made my voice clear.

"That's okay. It wouldn't be false."

Kikyou grabbed my right wrist and slowly opened my hand. She pushed my palm up against her soft breast. I raised my eyebrow. That was completely different from what I had imagined.

Kikyou was... very blessed, to say the least. The size of her breasts were comparable to a mature woman's. The softness of her breast was truly monumental. It felt like sinking my arm into a deep sea of soft cotton. As my hands dug deeper into it, I kept feeling edges of her chest. I wondered what size of bra she had on her. It even came to a point where I could easily guess the position of he nipple.

Unfortunately, it was not the time to slowly savor that feeling. I was there for much more important reasons.

"Your fingerprints are on my clothes. That's evidence of my claim. I'm being serious. Understand?"

....

"Kikyou Kushida...

Are you sure you're the one who's in control?"

"Huh? Isn't that obvious? I would definit-"

Within the blink of an eye, my hand broke through her grip towards her throat and grabbed it. Squeezing it tightly, I lifted her up.

"You just don't get it, do you?" I coldly asked.

"Hngh-!"

"Forensics and evidence collection works completely different compared to what you have in mind. Expecting the investigators to find my fingerprints on your blazer is painfully irrational. Cotton and linen are incapable of containing verifiable amount of fingerprint. The possibility of ever detecting my involvement via this method is close to zero. In short, it's nothing but a pipe dream." I added.

"In addition to that, let's think hypothetically that it was possible. Let's just say that they'd found my fingerprints on your blazer. So, what difference does it make? My fingerprints on your clothes will never be taken as credible evidence to back up your allegations. If I wanted to, I could always request for a physical check-up. As far as I'm concerned, you're a virgin, aren't you?"

"Grr...!" her reaction was the answer itself. Kikyou was just like a popular idol or an actor. Usually idols are forbidden from entering romantic relationships because it always puts their popularity at risk. Kikyou only saw human relationships objectively. Friendship with everyone was just a mean of retaining her popularity. That said, there was no doubt about the authenticity of my hypothesis.

"If you blamed me for raping you, how would you explain your undamaged hymen?"

Kikyou looked at me with narrow eyes while thrashing heavily for air. I know that look on her face. It was a look of anger, panic, confusion and fear. A face that I find eeriely common to all of my preys. A sight that I'd gotten unnaturally accustomed to.

But that wasn't quite the sight I wanted to see.

"But listen Kikyou, you don't have to worry, because there's still a possibility of me getting in trouble. Do you want to know how?"

"Ha-how?"

Even in this scenario, her eyes grew curious. In order to remove me from her path, she was ready to do anything. She was that desperate.

....

Let's give her the 'hope' that she desperately wants.

"Because this time, the allegations brought upon me...

...would not be a fabricated one."

I tightened my grip on her throat. The sudden increase of pressure on her throat made her let out a squeaking sound. Her breathing became even more rigid. There was barely any air going inside her lungs. Soon, the true meaning behind my words became clear to her. The sudden realization made her fearful of her fate.

"L-LET ME GO!"

"No." my grip increased even more.

By choking her, the tension of the muscles supporting her throat increased. What I wanted to accomplish, was an artificial "Globus Pharnygis", also known as a "lump in the throat", the persistent but painless sensation of having a pill, food or some other sort of obstruction in the throat when there is none.

It was a very annoying and uncomfortable sensation, especially when it was caused by an outsider. While what I did was very different from an actual lump in the throat, the result was what mattered...

Her fear increased, her mental state deteriorated and panic arose within her. Her fingernails dug deep as she desperately stated scratching all over my arm. The possibility of me actually killing her, took over her consciousness. She tried to scream, but it just wasn't possible for her to that anymore. Her voice wouldn't come out of her. That was the ultimate result of fear and despair.

"STO-..!"

It became harder for her to talk due to the increased difficulties experienced in her oxygen intake. A slow and painful sensation arose all over her body.

"Did you not want me to get into trouble?"

"N..n...nh..."

It became visibly apparent to me that the volume of carbon-dioxide increased up to an unbearable amount. Which is why her face stared turning red. Her trashing gradually began to slow down. She wasn't able to apply enough strength anymore. If I continued chocking her, she actually might've gone unconscious, or even worse. Dead.

As much as I wished to continue reliving past experiences, I needed to resist my urges.

After releasing my grip, I pushed her towards the very tree she cornered me in. While continuously coughing, Kikyou collapsed and gasped for air like a fish out of water. I just stood there like a statue, continuing my cold observation.

"Hah.. Hah.." she kept breathing heavily while glaring at me. Her body was shaking, sweat formed all around her face even though it was cold.

"I'm surprised that you can still move after all of that." I commented while looking at her trying to stand up.

"You... you monster!" she shouted as tears formed around her eyes.

"Indeed."

I whipped out my phone. After navigating to the recording folder, I located the designated file and pressed on it. An audiotrack immediately started playing.

"Huh?" was a normal response from a normal human being.

The voice in the audio belonged to none other than Kushida Kikyou. Every word that she spoke, every rant that she screamed at Horikita, all of them were being repeated through the speaker. Which of course, included her recent 'rape allegations'.

After the recording stopped playing, her face turned pale, like a lifeless ghost.

"W-when... did you record this?" she asked with a shaky voice.

"Since the very beginning." I replied.

"You bastard! Delete that right this instant!" she screamed as she threw a punch at me.

I was surprised by the fact that she was attacking me right after being assaulted. Her punch was sloppy, slow and purely based on raw emotions. If I wanted to, I could've easily dodged her punch. But instead, I took her punch head-on. I was curious.

A jolt of pain ran through my left cheeks as her hands collided with my face. Even though Kikyou seemed like a nice, kind-hearted girl, her punch was something that completely betrayed her image. I made sure not to lose composure as I was prepared to face the wrath of an emotional being. After regaining myself, I simply stared at her, unaffected.

Her eyes were filled with anger, disgust and hatred. Well that was to be expected. No one likes to be at a disadvantage. The losers always look back at their inability and blame their lack of perception. Either way, between the two of us, I was the one who was standing above the other. It would only take me two steps to attain absolute dominance over the person named Kikyou.

"What are you doing?" she screamed.

I tapped on the screen a few times, navigating through the share option of that file. After I was done setting everything up, I showed her the phone.

"Let's make a proposition. You will do whatever I tell you to do, unquestioned. In exchange I will not expose you."

"Like hell I'll do that?"

"You have no choice but to do that."

In a single click, I was then able to expose her in front of the entire school. Seeing this, her expression turned into a panicked one.

"Stop! Don't do it! I'm warning you! If you do that, then I-"

"Be my guest. I wouldn't care even if the class were to go down the deepest pits of hell."

"W-what?" Kikyou was visibly flabbergasted.

"Do you even know what you're talking about?" she said.

"I do. But more importantly, I don't care."

"What kind of a brainless idiot are you, you stupid prick!" she screamed.

"Looks like you're not going to believe me unless you see it for yourself."

I don't care what happens, Kikyou. I will forcefully rip that mask off of your face.

"Hold on! Wait! No!!!" As if reading my mind, Kikyou panicked. She instantly launched herself towards me, trying to grab the phone from me. But it was all in vein. Not only was she shorter than me, but her movement was slower than a snail to me.

Kikyou was desperate. She was at her wits end. After she realized that trying to grab the phone was useless, she retorted to violence. This time, however, I wasn't curious about her strength. After dodging her kick aimed at my abdomen, I swiftly gained distance from her. There was no way Kikyou could ever match up with me.

My thumb slowly started sinking towards the screen. Seeing this, her face darkened even more. But it was a different kind of darkness. It was not anger, not hatred, not regret.

It was fear.

"Please! Don't upload it!"

Finally, the egoistic girl decided to shed her tears. Like a broken dam, it continued flowing down her cheeks. Kikyou Kushida was no longer able to hold onto her mask. She gave up, and began crying hopelessly leaning onto me. That beautiful soundless night was immediately replaced with cries of dispair.

I waited until her crying had subsided. Apparently both her blazer and mine were wet from her tears. Slowly her crying weakend and was replaced with sobs. Even though the situation was anything but romantic, I couldn't help but think of her expression to be erotic.

"What are you going to do now?"

Kikyou slowly moved her lips in reply. But her voice was too weak for me to understand.

"Speak up!"

"I. I'll.. I'll do anything! I swear!"

"Good." I walked away from her. After putting the phone back on my pocket, I looked at myself. Kikyou cried quite a bit on me!

"There's something else I'm curious about, Kikyou."

"W-what is it?"

"This game of playing the social butterfly... The mask of duality... Do you even realize how dangerous of a game you're playing?"

Humans are only capable of holding so much to themselves. Every human has a capacity, even if it was her. The smile that she showed to everyone, while having different emotions beneath that mask, I'm sure she had already experienced the recoil.

"....." she remained silent.

"Our emotions are results of different chemical reactions and neurotic signals of our brain which reacts differently on different environments. When an individual tries to deny their instincts of expressing themselves, their brain reacts accordingly, hampering the natural procedure of their neural function. In short, you're walking towards the path of insanity."

"You don't know half of it, Levent." she slowly replied.

"Half of what? Tell me..."

"Say Levent, the moment when you realize that you have something unique the others don't have, it's the ultimate ecstasy isn't it?"

The person named Kikyou finally began opening up.

"When I was in primary school, I would be praised for the smallest of achievements, whether it's academics, athletics or more. It was one of those moments when everyone would look at you. The moment when you'd recieve all of the attention. It felt great back then. Soon enough I came to realize my own self worth. But then..."

"Then your perfect world crumbled, am I correct?" she nodded.

"No matter how hard I tried, no one would look at me anymore. There was as always someone better than me, whether it's academics or athletics. I wasn't receiving any of the attention that I got addicted to. That's when I started thinking. If I did what the others wouldn't do, then I would be popular again. Helping everyone with studies, doing chores on behalf of someone...

...Becoming friends with the ugliest girl, sympathizing with the most disgusting boy, I did everything in order to regain the popularity. And when it worked, it felt heavenly."

Kikyou began telling me her story that I already knew.

"I know what happened next." I walked towards her.

"Your actions were too stressful for you. You were getting tried of holding yourself back. If I were to guess, you did something to release that stress. But it only ended up making everything worse."

Kikyou looked at with genuine surprise.

"How did you-"

"So I've hit the nail right on spot, huh? Listen, Kikyou. I'm not the one to judge anyone based on minimal interaction. I'm sure you have your own reasons and, honestly I don't have any problem with your methods. I also don't hate the other personality that you try to hide. You have my full acceptance because that's who you truly are."

"H-hey!" I held onto her shoulders.

"You've been through a lot, didn't you? Don't worry, I will act as a medium for your release."

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, seemingly her face full of red.

"What I meant was,  you can vent all of your stress on me. I will be your personal emotional punching bag. Whenever there's need for you to talk, whenever you need to release your demons, feel free." I replied.

My goal was not to destroy a teenager's life. It was to assist others in becoming a better version of themselves. If I had used Kikyou continuously without giving her a path to escape, her high school life would inevitably become unbearable for her.

"Do you promise?"

"Unless you decide to get in my way, I will take this secret down my grave. Trust me."

She reluctantly took my my hand and shook it.

"Then I'll... be in your care, Levent-kun."

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