Yui leaned over slightly, giving Yuuki an upturned look.
“Everything I just said was a lie, a joke, a hoax, all of it! Nothing can bring ’ol Yue down, I’m not that kind of character! You should’ve seen the look on your face when I patted you! Priceless, simply priceless! Did your heart flutter at my noble sacrifice? Did you fall for me? Fall hopelessly in love?” Yui put on her signature teasy smile, throwing a never-before-seen move, the finger twirl, in for good measure.
I got got again. Yuuki snapped back to his senses, immediately feeling his soul leave his body... and an odd sense of relief.
He heaved a heavy sigh, shrugging his shoulders so she wouldn’t catch on. “Almost got me there.”
“Almost? That was my cleanest critical headpat to date. I could almost hear the pokeman low health beep coming from you.” Yui laughed uncontrollably, a look of pure satisfaction on her face.
Yuuki, meanwhile, felt neither anger, nor amazement, only apathy. Her laugh was so infectious he felt like it made it all okay, somehow.
“That went exactly according to plan! I’m almost terrified of my own genius! You should’ve seen your face back there. I wish I’d taken a picture, good god. How do you feel, hmm? How do you feel right now?” Yui rocked from side to side, peering into his face from every possible angle.
Is it too late to take back what I said?
“Speechless, huh? Need a zing?”
“Anyway, I think I was wrong about you, Yui.”
“Eh?”
“Maybe the seatmate killer... isn’t all that bad after all.”
Dubious means aside, the outcome itself was fine. In hindsight, the same could be said for last time. Maybe it was time to recognize the seatmate killer as part of Yui, instead of demonizing it.
Yui abruptly straightened her back out, putting on a serious look. “Uhh, you do know the seatmate killer thing is a lie... right?”
“Hmm? Didn’t you literally say ‘I’m the seatmate killer’ just now?”
“It was a means to an end? Like, even Rio realizes this? You’re the only one confused here.”
“So it was all a charade?”
“Don’t say it like that.”
Wait, something doesn’t add up then.
“Okay, so, if you’re not the seatmate killer, then what was that just now? How do you explain your suggestive behavior up until now?”
“I’m the seatmate killer and I will kill you.”
That was quick. Yuuki looked in amazement as Yui shot him a defiant stare, not speaking a word more. Alright, then I’ll go.
“So basically you, the real seatmate killer, pretended to be the fake seatmate killer to finish Rio off for good and then tried picking me off on the side. I see... you might’ve gotten away with it too, if you weren’t up against me.” Yui was just about to add something, only to close her mouth shut at the very last second. She bitterly glared at him, so he reached his hand out, patting her on the head. “It’s okay though. I’m not mad or anything.”
Yui’s surprised face turned pink immediately. She reached her hand out, patting Yuuki in revenge. “Ow you cwyute little thing you!”
The two found themselves in this awkward double head patting scenario, yet Yui showed no sign of backing down. Quite the opposite, her patting only grew in intensity.
Eventually she tapped him on the head, stuck her tongue out and took a step back.
“Rio fell to me at long last. I won again... I want you to know defeat next. So can you, like, start crying and declare defeat already? Come on, come on.”
“How could this happen to me? I am crying.”
“Muahaha! Cower before the almighty seatmate killer, weakling!” Yui planted her hands against her hips, laughing evilly, her endearing self from earlier gone with the wind.
What a waste…
Her seven faces felt more like ten, twenty, maybe even a hundred. Whether or not Yuuki could pinpoint the real one, assuming he could peek inside her soul, was questionable at best.
The almighty seatmate killer, huh?
What was truth and what was fiction? Maybe the answer was surprisingly obvious, maybe not. Either way, it didn’t really matter. So long as Yui was smiling from the bottom of her heart, nothing did. For now, anyway.
Yuuki exhaled to clear his mind, facing forward.
Yui, who had walked ahead of him, turned around and began rushing him. “What’re you standing around for? Come on!” A car slid across the road, its headlights illuminating Yui’s body. She waved her arms, beckoning him over. “Over here!” She yelled with a smile. Yuuki nodded, slowly walking toward her.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Mom found the test sheets hidden deep inside one of your drawers and she’s furious. Yui... were you seriously trying to pull a Nobita?”
The day after.
Maki entered Yui’s room with no tricks or anything, carrying unfortunate news.
Yui’s eyes shot open. She dropped her manga, hurling herself at Maki. “She went through my room without permission?!”
“She said she’s slashing your allowance. That and limiting your video game time to one hour a day.”
“Wh-What? Why?!”
“What do you mean why? Seems perfectly reasonable to me.”
Curse you, satan’s pawn. The true devil was right here all along! Lyucifer’s antics were mere child’s play compared to mom’s unhinged cruelty.
That being said, Yui’s video game addiction wasn’t, in fact, the main reason behind her recent blunder.
Yui was constantly paranoid about Yuuki and Rio flirting behind her back, so much so that she failed to get any studying done. She’d sit down at her desk and just couldn’t, for the life of her, concentrate. Video games helped her relax, yes, but the fact that, at the end of the day, it was all Yuuki’s fault still remained.
Explaining this to Maki, however, was nothing short of self character suicide, a guaranteed lifetime of embarrassment.
What are best friends for, if not times like these?
Yui kicked Maki out of her room, took her phone and hit Rio up. Rio picked up before a single ring could finish.
“You wouldn’t believe what just happened, Rio! So mom enters into my room right–”
“Yui. If I’m being completely honest to you as a friend, this is all on you. I painstakingly prepared very easy to understand notes and you still failed.”
“Y-Yeah, you’re right. Sorry for wasting your notes, Rio.”
“This year’s midterms weren’t even that difficult to begin with…”
Expecting words of comfort, all Yui got instead was a lecture. Yui ended the call, having to apologize profusely before finally being let off the hook.
“Why do you have to be so hard-headed? This is your problem, Leo, this is your problem.”
Yui scrolled through her address book, her fingers halting at the name Yuuki.
She had accidentally blurted out something she shouldn’t have recently. Yui quickly covered up the resulting awkward atmosphere, which only drove her further into her lies.
That idiot probably didn’t even notice. Although, it did reveal potential in acting vulnerable. He can be quite kind sometimes… Yui thought, mustering up the courage to phone him.
It took Yuuki a while to pick up but, after way too many attempts, he eventually did. “Yes?”
She sniffed. “Something horrible just happened.”
“You’re the enemy, seatmate killer.”
Yui hung up immediately. Rio was better than this...
“Curses, curses! I’ll make you fall for me, you’ll see!”
The seatmate killer proceeded to cry into her pillow that night.