Chapter 31

He lay in her arms, his eyes half open and half closed, out of focus.

Naoko was terrified and quickly put him to the ground, running to the living room in a panic.

But just as she dialed the number for the ambulance, a hand pulled it out.

"Don't call." His face was still pale.

"Amemiya-kun?! You, you woke up?"

He didn't have the energy to explain anything else, and put his arm on her shoulder easily: "Help me upstairs first."

Naoko glanced behind him, and from the hall to the floor here, dark red blood from Amemiya was dripping.

Amemiya lay flat on the bed, squinting his eyes and staring at the girl next to him. She was biting her thumb nervously, and it looked like she was going to faint from fear in the next second.

"Amamiya-kun, tell me the truth. Have you done anything illegal? You can't even get to the hospital?"

He reached out and touched her forehead. "Naoko, are you dreaming? Or maybe you're playing some dark otome game again?"

"I'm not in the mood to joke with you right now." She brushed his hand away unhappily. "Did you join some mafia and get revenge?"

"..." He gave a speechless look. "No. But..."

He paused before saying, "I might be dying, Naoko."

"...Are you kidding? I just checked. It's just a superficial wound. It's not life-threatening."

Although the bloodstains on the ground looked scary, the wound wasn't actually that serious.

She hoped Amamiya would have his usual annoying expression and say, "Hey, it was just a joke. You didn't really believe it, did you?"

But he didn't.

"Naoko, will you remember me?" He chuckled to himself. "Probably not. You're always so stupid."

Why was he suddenly so angry?

The deep tone of the voice made Naoko feel strangely uneasy.

"Amemiya-kun, if you've done something you shouldn't have, we'd better turn ourselves in as soon as possible..."

Midway through her sentence, Amemiya angrily covered her lips. "Kawase Naoko, shut up right there. Otherwise, I can't guarantee I won't strangle you to death."

Dangers lurk in the stillness of the current.

There's a run-down little park near the school. Its scenery is unremarkable, and a few foul-smelling fish occasionally rise from the lake, so it's rarely visited.

But after bringing Naoko there once, Amemiya has been particularly pleased with it.

Besides the two of them, there's no one else there.

Finally, the weekend arrived, and Amemiya refused her suggestion to stay home and play with the cat. Instead, he forcefully took her to the park and prepared a thrilling picnic.

But in reality, they just ate a dry sandwich next to a dead fish.

They could have gone shopping somewhere like the shopping street, but Amemiya coldly refused every time he suggested it.

His exact words were, "We should create some more memorable memories for the two of us. Shopping and watching a movie is so ordinary."

While the deserted little park was certainly unique,...

"A place like this is only good for a stroll, how can it possibly be suitable for a picnic?" She pounded her chest hard to swallow the bread, her face livid as she complained, "Besides, the smell of dead fish is just too strong."

Amemiya, who was peeling a red apple for her, shrugged, "I think it's nice here. It's quiet, just you and me, Naoko."

While that was true, there was nothing romantic about this place. After all these years, she would probably only remember the strong smell of dead fish.

"Forget it, I need to go to the bathroom first,"

Amemiya called out, "Want to come with me? I'm almost done peeling this apple; the peel isn't even broken."

How childish!

"No thanks, I'll be back in a minute."

She walked down the path toward the bathroom. All around was silence, the only sounds being the chirping of cicadas and the occasional chirping of birds.

It was already seven or eight minutes before she returned.

Across the shadowy trees, a hunched, black-haired man with tousled hair swooped forward and covered Amemiya's mouth.

Without waiting for Naoko to react, the man swiftly stabbed him, the white blade piercing his chest and turning a deep crimson when he pulled it out.

Amemiya, who had been struggling fiercely just a moment before, took two quick breaths before collapsing.

The frantic man raised his arms and shouted,

"Amemiya-kun! Amemiya-kun, you are finally mine... Your heart, your beautiful face, finally belong to me alone..."

Blood gushed out in streams, splattering his shirt.

"I will tear you apart and devour you... Amemiya-kun, no other bitch in this world will ever possess you! You belong to me alone!" The killer tilted his head, and in the sunlight, Naoko could clearly see his hideous face.

It was Irie Reo, the gentle senior she had once admired.

He lowered his head, his face greedy as he stretched out his mouth to catch the gushing blood.

"I'll savor it... Amemiya-kun, I'll devour every last morsel of your flesh and blood..."

From a distance, Naoko couldn't tell if Amemiya saw her clearly.

Perhaps he did; he possessed an uncommon talent for finding her. Furthermore, he subtly smiled in her direction for a second.

Irie left, apparently preparing to find some means to carry Amemiya away.

She knew that Amemiya was in tatters this time, and she couldn't save him like she had last time.

Her legs weakened, her face pale. She took a few steps in front of him, stopping and kneeling on the ground. A chill ran down her face, like a vine crawling all over it; she had been crying.

A knife was lodged in Amemiya's heart, and blood gushed out across his shirt, still flowing out in streams with his rising and falling breaths.

She recognized it as the fruit knife he had used to peel the apple.

"Ah, Naoko, are you crying for me?" A cool hand gently wiped away the tears from her eyes, his tone as nonchalant and careless as ever.

"Are you okay, Amamiya-kun? Let me call an ambulance for you now..."

She stammered, her hand resting on the hilt of the knife. Blood gushed out like a spring, squeezing through her fingers and forming a small puddle in the grass.

She tried to convince herself, "I'll definitely survive... After all, Amamiya-kun, you have excellent healing abilities, don't you? And then we'll bring him to justice, and we'll all be safe from now on... By the way, we need to call an ambulance!"

But as soon as she raised her hand, he gripped it tightly.

"It's okay, Naoko. Just sit with me for a while, stay with me." Amamiya's tone was unusually gentle, and in a trance, it seemed as if he had briefly reverted to the gentle "Amamiya Tomie" of the past.

"Are you going to die... Amemiya-kun? It was Irie-senpai who killed you, wasn't it? I just saw it all. I'll take you away from this place and to the hospital. Just try to stay alive, okay?" "

At this point, Naoko, do you still want to mention anyone else who's irrelevant?"

He didn't answer her. The blood loss made it difficult for him to move, and his cyanotic eyes slowly shifted to her lips.

He raised the corner of his lips slightly and whispered, "Want to kiss, Naoko?

" "This might... be the last time I kiss you."

She turned pale and shook her head in fear. "No... Amemiya-kun, no, you absolutely won't die..."

"It's okay, Naoko. I absolutely, absolutely, absolutely will not leave you." His eyes gleamed with a certain paranoia. "No Amemiya in this world could survive without you, Naoko. So, you never need to worry about me."

"What... does this mean?"

He said without further ado. "You'll understand later, Naoko." "

He became the same as before, liking to call her name. His sharp personality was gradually smoothed out, becoming doting and gentle, the look Naoko was most familiar with.

She wanted to continue asking something, but he held her face forcefully and leaned over to kiss her.

His kiss was more gentle and delicate than ever before, as if he wanted to leave his mark on every part of her lips and teeth.

It was just that his tongue was cold, and the icy licking made her unconsciously get goose bumps.

When she was kissing her fascinated, she heard a messy sound of footsteps behind her, rapid and heavy, showing the owner's extreme anger:

"Kawase Naoko, why is it you again? ! Why, why do you always have to ruin my good things? ! Amemiya-kun is mine, mine! Do you know?"

"Amemiya-kun, there is someone behind me..."

Amemiya held her face, pressed his slightly cool fingers on her lips, and touched his forehead to her: "Don't be afraid. Naoko, nothing will happen to you. "

His fingers slid, then covered her ears.

Before the world fell into darkness, she heard only a slow sigh. It was Amemiya calling her name:

"Naoko, there's really nothing I can do about you."

A snap of fingers beside her ear, and Naoko jerked awake.

She was slumped over her desk, her face cold. When she touched it, it was wet with tears.

It seemed as if she had had a terrible dream: she dreamed that Amemiya-kun was dead.

"Amemiya-kun..."

She now felt a strong urge to see Amemiya.

"Hmm? Are you okay?" As if hearing her low moan, a cold voice came from behind, its gaze scrutinizing her. "Naoko, that's you, right?" "

Unfamiliar. "

That was the word that came to mind the moment she saw him.

The man before her was so unfamiliar that he didn't even resemble Amemiya-kun.

"I just had a strange dream... I dreamed that you seemed, seemed dead."

"Indeed, you're dead. If he wasn't dead, how could I exist?" He sat down on her desk, lifted her chin, and looked left and right. "You don't look anything special." "

The way he looked at her was full of unfamiliar scrutiny, as if she was a childhood playmate who had disappeared for years and suddenly reappeared because of a trivial matter.

Seeing his face clearly, Naoko's panic calmed down a lot, and she said unhappily: "You are so rude."

"We have done things that are much more intimate than this, right? Now you think I'm rude." He raised a meaningless smile.

This conversation was inexplicably familiar, except that the roles were completely reversed.

She lowered her eyes, her fingers still trembling unconsciously, and in a trance, she still felt the warm touch of some scarlet liquid.

Was it really just a dream?

"Amemiya-kun...can I, hug you?"

She raised her eyes pitifully, and tears flowed down her cheeks again.

After staring at each other for a while, Amemiya said with disgust: "It's disgusting."

As he said this, his hand raised skillfully and wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. When he reacted, he whispered something.