Sleeping Beauty [Chapter 3]

[Notice: This chapter has some mature content that might not be appropriate for young readers.]

Cover page: “Because the TRUTH is always blurry and unclear, all the more people will rely on HOPE.. Isn’t this so?” Creepy guy tells Yuki to first give him a blow job. Teary-eyed Yuki wonders what to do for she’s so scared that she couldn’t move. “..but, I have to quickly escape..!” She grabs some litter on the ground and tosses it on the guy’s face. She tries to run but the guy immediately recovers and grabs her neck to strangle her. She says, no and tries to get his hands off her. Then, Yuki recalls herself being strangled before while she’s shouting for help. Someone shouts, bastard. The guy turns to look and got punch away by furious Eiji. The guy asks what’s up with him. Eiji looks seriously irked that the guy became scared. Soon, Eiji punch and kick him. Then, Eiji takes his ID and tells him to scram. Eiji asks Yuki if she’s alright. Putting her shawl on her, he asks what that guy did to her. He suggests that they go to the hospital. Yuki says that she just got beaten a few times but she doesn’t want to go to the hospital because she doesn’t want other people to know.. Eiji looks flustered. He says that he understands, so let’s just go to a hotel nearby where she can tidy herself up because she cannot ride on the taxi, all dirty like this. At Hotel Grande, Eiji shows her where the bathroom is. He’ll be going to the store [where he works] to help her get some clothes, and would she be alright alone. Eiji says that guy must have recognize her as someone popular so he.. Yuki says ah, no.. This surprises Eiji. Looking flustered again, Eiji says that she was mistaken as a hostess from their store. He blames himself for talking to her. He apologizes to her for always getting her involved and she ends up getting hurt. Yuki smiles and says that she isn’t blaming him and she should thank him for saving her. Eiji looks surprised. Yuki comments that compared to the Reika thing, his expression is more mature and earnest. Going out the room, Eiji says that he’ll come back. In the bathroom, Yuki stands in front of the mirror naked. She thinks that when she was strangled, it seems like she remembered something.. “Could it be that.. I was strangled before..? *heavy breathing* ..no good, I’m feeling dizzy..” She kneels down and faints. Later on, carrying some clothes, Eiji knocks on the door. He is surprised that it is quiet and Yuki is not in the bedroom. He knocks at the bathroom and says that he’s back. “Are you still in the bathroom? Are you alright?” He thinks that it has already been an hour since he left. He says that he’ll be opening the door. He opens the door and is surprised to see fainted Yuki lying naked on the floor. He quickly grabs a towel and covers it on her.

Then, he carries her on the bed. He lightly touches her face and smiles. Much later on, Yuki wakes up and stretches that she had a good sleep. Preparing to sitting up while stretching, she wonders where she is for it seems that she slept in a daze. She blushes upon realizing that she is naked. She quickly pulls up the blanket to cover herself. Sitting on the chair with a towel on his face, Eiji says that she fainted in the bathroom and her face looked pale. Yuki screams in surprise. Looking away with the towel still on his face, Eiji says that she ought to be fine since she can loudly scream like that. He tells her that he borrowed some clothes that she can use from the store’s girls, and they are on the bed. Blushing really red, Yuki thanks him and hesitantly asks if he saw.. Eiji claims that he didn’t see for he immediately put a towel over her and carried her there. She picks up the flower hairclip on top of the clothes and asks what this clip is. Pulling down the towel off his face, Eiji says that he thought she dropped it that is why he chased after her. Yuki says that it isn’t hers but because she’s quite lucky *smiles* that because of it, she got saved by him. Eiji slightly smiles back. After dressing up, Yuki wonders if Eiji bought this suspender dress, stirrup leggings and underwear for her. She goes out the bathroom to say that she has finished changing. She blushes upon seeing Eiji starting to dress up. She looks away and apologizes. Taking off his shirt, Eiji says that it is alright, he had explained to the store earlier on what happened so he can leave early [from work] and he also brought his own clothes. While Yuki blushes, Eiji comments that the size fits her. He doesn’t know of women clothes so he got the girls at the store to lend him some of the clothes that they’ve hoarded. The girl said that the clothes are recently washed and the underwear is new. While dressing up, Eiji tells her that he got some ice in the refrigerator. It is better for her to put some on her face and she already couldn’t reach the last bus/train in time so as an apology, he’ll pay for the taxi fare. He says that this place is quite far from his house but near his school so he’ll be sleeping here and go straight to school tomorrow. He asks her if he should call Yuuya and he thinks that Yuuya would drive her home. Getting the ice from the refrigerator, Yuki asks why call Yuuya. Eiji smiles and says that he thinks that guy would want her to depend on him. Putting the ice on her face, Yuki tells him that she doesn’t want Yuuya to see her like this, and she doesn’t want her brother to know either, since he is such a worrywart.

Eiji asks if she is also going to stay here and always put cold compress on her face until morning. This made Yuki blush really red and exclaim in surprise. Eiji tells her that he won’t make a move on the girl whom Yuuya really values[/give importance to]. Yuki says that she believes him but she isn’t some valued person of Yuuya. After eating some takeout food, Yuki asks him why he needs money, is it for tuition fee. Eiji asks if she heard it from Souichirou that his and Yuuya’s girlfriend disappeared together. He tells her that in order to find Saki, it requires spending a lot of money and those girls who often go in and out of bars usually have inside information. Yuki asks if that means, he thinks that Saki is in the entertainment business. Eiji says that he doesn’t know but then, kidnapping a young girl but not asking for any ransom. “It is very possible that they are after [her] body. If she’s still alive, it is possible that she is forced into this kind of work. I don’t even want to think about that nor do I want to imagine it, but it is possible that she’s living in hell. *Yuki is teary-eyed* ..regardless, right now, how she looks, in what situation she is in, no matter what she changed into,*anguish* it doesn’t matter. As long as she lives..” Moved by this, Yuki holds his hand and says, “Kase-kun, she is still alive. She is definitely still alive. I also believe that.” This made Eiji smile and says, “Yes. Thank you.” Narration: “Everyone said that they are going to search clues for the two missing girls. Even if I’m afraid of inconvenience, but I still want to come and help. We went to the place where Tachibana-kun and others used to live.” At the outskirts of the city, Soichirou says that it is quite helpful even if there is one more person. Yuuya says if she’s tired, don’t force herself and just say it. Yuki says okay. Yuuya says that this is the road that both Erika and Saki have to pass when going to school. There are some abandoned large building and inhabited apartment building [around here]. “At that time, a lot of search was done but they weren’t able to find anything.” Souichirou says but Erika’s student ID was found so right now, it is possible that they can find some clues that weren’t noticed before. Holding his cellphone, Yoshiharu complains that Kousuke won’t answer the phone and it is infuriating that he suddenly stood them up. [<- didn’t join them] Holding a map, Keita says that is enough, they’ll just do their best and he’ll tell them the route for today. Maiko says that it would be better for seven of them to search for clues separately. Soichirou calls out to Yuuya and asks him about what happened with that thing last time. Going to Soichirou, Yuuya says that he resolved that thing on his own. Souichiro asks if it is alright, and it is okay if he also went. Yuuya tells him that he said that it is alright.

While Yuki was watching the two, Eiji calls out to her and whispers that it is great that the bruises are totally not noticeable. Yuki says that she concealed it with some make-up. Eiji comments that she is a model so naturally, she’s good at it. He asks if her family found out. Yuki says that her brother noticed it and she got lectured over it. She smiles and says that because she said that some kind-hearted person saved her, it is fine and that forcefully ended that topic. Eiji laughs and says that she’s quite strong and it doesn’t show on her appearance. Yuki says that she is going to be 20 years old soon and she cannot always depend on her brother. Eiji asks if she wants to be independent. Yuki says yes, and because of a traffic accident, she repeated a grade. Eiji comments that isn’t easy. While they are talking, Yuuya was at first surprised to see them together, and then he quietly watches the two happily chatting. Narration: “We searched a lot of places but still, we didn’t find any clues. And, the surrounding daylight is slowly becoming dark..” In an abandoned building, Soichirou says that the sun is quickly setting that it is quite dangerous so the girls better stay there. While the others are going deeper inside the building, Yuuya tells the girls to shout and call them if something happens, or perhaps, quickly call them on the phone. While Maiko is catching her breath, Yuki tells them to be careful. Maiko complains over being tired and guys really have physical strength. Yuki agrees. Looking out the window, Yuki thinks that if this goes on, it is possible that they cannot find anything but they [the guys] cannot just stand there and do nothing. Preparing to drink some water, Maiko says that even if she knows that she shouldn’t say this but at least, a confirmation whether death or alive. “If [they] died and passed away, the body would have decayed.” Yuki scolds her that even if it’s just a hypothesis, she cannot say those words since Eiji and Yuuya have not yet given up. Maiko says she knows, sorry. Yuki becomes teary-eyed upon recalling how Eiji bears the resolve to always searching for Saki non-stop. Surprised Maiko apologizes for Yuki is crying. Yuki says that she should be the one saying sorry, and she’ll go to that side for a stroll. Maiko tells her not to go far. Yuki says okay. Walking around, Yuki decides to cool her head off. She passes by a room and thinks it is beautiful when the sunset illuminates against the ruins. Inside a room, she thinks that it is so beautiful. She decides to go to the last window for surely, it is a stunning scenery from that window. Then, she sees something on the floor. She screams in horror for it is a skeleton remains. Blurb: “Whose corpse is the skeleton remains that Yuki-chan found?”

Comment: And obviously, Eiji gets to be the prince who’ll save her. For him to take the pervert’s ID, I guess that is some sort of ‘standard procedure’ to probably blacklist that guy from going to any bars. I don’t think that they would report him to the police though since Yuki doesn’t want others to know. Still..it is an attempted rape and murder. Anyway, this incident caused Eiji to have some bonding time with Yuki. And since Yuki recalled being strangled before, something similar must have happened to her. Could it be the same people who kidnapped the two girls? Maybe that’s the connection with Yuki. Eiji really loves Saki to do this for her and to hope that whatever happened to her, everything is okay as long as she is alive. I wonder though what Yuuya and Souichirou were talking about earlier. Is it about the earlier police report regarding Erika’s belongings or something else that might not be important? Well, it seems that we have a brewing love triangle when Yuuya looks at the two like that while they were chatting. So, Yuki found the skeleton and most likely, it is one of the girls..or some other victim? I think it is puzzling as to how come the police didn’t find it before, actually even the ID. Was it recently planted or the police weren’t really seriously looking that they are inept in their investigation? But the latter is unlikely because Yuuya’s father is a big shot in the police and it was Yuuya’s ex-girlfriend so the police should have worked hard on it. It seems that Yuki’s life has been stressful, dangerous and ‘eventful’ ever since she met these guys. ^^; Scans by 深雪汉化组

Quote of the day:

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: You don't give up. ~ Anne Lamott