Sleeping Beauty [Chapter 12]

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

Cover page: “Why do such a thing. ...you think it’s very strange, right?” Eiji hangs up the phone and curses. Shiki asks if Yuki was kidnapped and made into a hostage. He tells Eiji that they shouldn’t do anything to harm Yuki in the meantime for in the end, the one they are after is him [Shiki]. Shaking while holding his cellphone tight, Eiji says that in these three years, there are times when he lost hope and thought that she is dead. “It is good that she is still alive--..” Meanwhile, Sou says that Eiji would unexpectedly say that he didn’t see Shiki.. “..You cannot deceive me. *smiles* We had been friends for such a long time, you still think that I don’t know your thoughts?” The next morning, Yuuya yawns loudly and greets Sou. He asks Sou if Eiji has called. Sou tells him that Eiji just called and it seems that he couldn’t find Shiki. Yuuya says is that so. Yuuya seems lost in thought. Preparing some coffee, Sou asks what it is. “Do you feel bored in having sex with an unconscious girl?” Yuuya says that without her consent, he won’t do that kind of thing. Sou just makes a serious side glance at Yuuya. Yuuya happily smiles and says that he is serious about Yuki and wants to properly cherish her. “She isn’t the same with other girls.” Sou says is that so, he noticed it. Sou gives him the cup of coffee. Yuuya thanks him. Sou thinks that Yuki..no..Saki is really a strange girl. “Obviously one cannot see anything special about her but not only, Eiji is attracted to her, but also Yuuya..”

Yuki wakes up and wonders where she is. She goes out of the bedroom and sees Yuuya asking if she is finally awake. Yuki calls out to Yuuya who is reading a book. Yuki is startled to see Sou sleeping on the sofa with his glasses on. ^^; Yuki nervously tells Yuuya that Sou hit her and caused her to faint. Holding her hand, Yuuya says that he heard and does her neck still hurt. “Are you okay? It is my fault. I wasn’t able to persuade Eiji. Eiji clung on his point of view when you made me go and urge him to give himself up. I’m afraid that you’ll be in danger so I asked Sou to go and protect you. Compared to what I anticipated, I didn’t think that he would be that rough on you.” While Yuki says is that so, she still felt that the fact isn’t exactly like that. Returning her cellphone to her, Yuuya says that Eiji had called many times to her. He apologizes that Sou had answered it once without her permission. “We plan to meet once again and properly talk. Sou will also go. I hope that Eiji can voluntarily surrender himself to the authorities.” Yuki wants to go with them. Yuuya says okay. “I’m worried about you so before the day of the meeting, you stay here first. No matter what, we will protect you, Yuki-chan.” Yuki smiles and says okay.

Walking at the university [I think], Eiji always thought that it is strange for why would the murderers be unexpectedly Yuuya and Sou. “I’ve always treated them as close friends, right..? Actually, it is hard to believe but yesterday, while talking with Sou, the way he talks is quite provocative... what’s up with that? In the end, what had happened. Why did it turn out like this..” Then, Yuuya calls out to Eiji and says that there are some things that he wants to tell him before the appointed date this Saturday. After looking tense, Eiji asks where and how is Yuki. “She is with you guys, right. Let us meet each other.” Yuuya says that they are together and right now, she is quite well. “But, she says that for the time being, she doesn’t want to see you. She still thinks that you’re the murderer who killed Erika.” Shocked Eiji shouts what kind of joke is that. Eiji grabs Yuuya’s collar and says that he knows that he and Sou are Erika’s real murderers. “Thanks to the lies that you guys kept telling.. deceiving me for such a long time..” Unfazed Yuuya says that if he wants to beat him up, then do so. “But then, don’t forget that we have Yuki as hostage.” Eiji curses and shouts why. “You guys can treat me whatever you want! *bends on floor and trembling* If only she is safe and sound.. I already looked for her for three whole years.. please.. do not.. once again hurt Saki, okay..” Yuuya looks surprised and says, “Saki..? ..Is Yuki!?”

Eiji looks up to Yuuya and asks if it is a lie, for he unexpectedly didn’t know. “Sou knows. Yuuya! It is because at first, Yuki got a blow [/shock] and lost her memories that she is Saki. She already doesn’t remember who the culprits are so I beg you to please do not hurt her again.” Yuuya exclaims in disbelief over what Eiji is saying. “I’m going to quickly go dizzy because of you. You want to take something from me again, right.. I hate you the most.” Eiji looks surprised. Narration: “Ever since I was young, I enjoyed being surrounded by people who treat me as if I’m a child prodigy. My grades are excellent in all of the subjects. With my appearance, I stand out and I’m charming. I’m also quite loved by the elders [/older people]. I also responded to my parents’ expectation. *get high marks in exams and got patted on the head* I don’t hate the me who worked hard for it. Wanting to become number one, I only have to work hard and I’ll be able to attain it. It is like that until Eiji appeared.” Flashback: Eiji entered the classroom and asked if Tachibana is in this class. Yuuya says that he is Tachibana so what’s up. Eiji sheepishly said that he is Kaze from the next door class and he got injured and hospitalized during the opening of school. “Since you’re the new student representative, your grades are definitely very good, right? Can you help me take extra lessons?” Yuuya said okay, he can also review [while teaching him]. Eiji exclaimed that’s great and he is a good person. Yuuya laughed and said that it isn’t free. “You have to buy me a snack in return.”

Narration: “We gradually became close and start to become somewhat well-matched with each other. *studied in library together* Basically, Eiji’s ability to comprehend is not bad so teaching him the lessons isn’t hard. Even if he got injured and stopped school for a month, but unknowingly, Eiji became the classes’ core [/heart]. *Eiji telling something funny to everyone* Even if he made a mistake, or perhaps he go against someone, he’ll also be forgiven. That is the kind of feeling that he gives.. No matter who, a person would have one or two strong points. But Eiji, he has everything. *Yuuya looked glum by the classroom door* Even if he didn’t put in any effort.” End flashback. Flustered Eiji says wait..he also put in his effort. “We are always together and you also ought to know it, right? But my grades never once surpassed yours!” Yuuya says that after school, he would study together with him yet he would still have a family tutor in order for him to become number one. “This is basically not the same as you who would casually put in effort yet easily get second or third place.” Eiji says it is being number one in school of a hundred people and it is that important? Yuuya says that in his heart, he clearly knows that this is but just a trivial small thing. “But, in case I started to get bothered by it, it won’t stop.. Not only you, but it includes your girlfriend (Saki). I also hate everything and everyone that is related to you. “Sorry, yo?” Eiji shouts for him to quit joking around. Grabbing Yuuya’s collar again, Eiji shouts that just to satisfy his meaningless ego, he hurt Saki!? “Is that it!?” Yuuya says what of it. “Saki-whatever doesn’t matter as long as it is enough to hurt you. *Eiji bites his lip in anger* But from today on, I’ll really cherish Yuki-chan so you can relax, okay?”

Eiji lets go of his collar and mutters that he always treated him as his close friend.. After a pause, Yuuya says that he must be a shiny radiant prince loved by many. “I hated the me who is ugly and filthy, so I will hide that dark side. But one day, Erika found out about it. I fundamentally think that even if she is pretty and lovable [/cute] but she’s an idiot. But, that girl lectured me.” Flashback: While in bed, Yuuya is on top of Erika in her underwear and unbuttoned blouse. Holding his face, Erika asked, “..let me as ask you, Yuuya, how do you regard Eiji? *Yuuya is puzzled* Like? Or is it hate? *Yuuya looked surprised* ..you’re pretending to like him, right. I like this kind of Yuuya. *scene of some uneaten cake and tea on the table, and some scattered uniform on the floor* Eiji doesn’t have a strong point whereas you have a pile of them. Yuuya is Yuuya, right?” End flashback. With a slight deranged look, Yuuya says that in order to protect the shiny radiant prince image, anyone who knows his ugly side must absolutely not exist. “Sou also said that.” Eiji says that Yuuya is really an idiot.. Holding Yuuya’s shoulder, Eiji says in tears that Erika saw through him yet she still likes him.. Yuuya says no, he found out about it. “But, that is after killing her so it is also very painful for me. *pats Eiji’s head* Through a new love, I want to recover. Don’t you hinder me again. Goodbye and see you on Saturday, Eiji.”

As he leaves downcast Eiji, Yuuya recalls Erika saying, “..let me ask you, Yuuya. You want Eiji’s everything [/belongings]? Why? Do you want to become Eiji? I don’t want you to become Eiji. It is fine for you to just be yourself. *happily holding Yuuya* I like the true Yuuya the most.” Yuuya notices that tears are falling from his eyes. At the abandoned factory, arriving with Shiki, Eiji asks Sou where Yuki is. Sitting near some crates, Sou says that she’ll come with Yuuya soon after. He comments that Shiki is quickly won over and why Eiji didn’t believe him. Eiji didn’t reply. Sou says that he heard from Yuuya that Yuki is really Saki. “Eiji, you really aren’t good in hiding things and I can know just from your voice and looking at your expressions. You cannot tell lies, really honest through the bone. It’s really quite baffling. Where is the real Mizuhara Yuki? Could it be that you killed her?” Shiki says that it has nothing to do with him. Sou continues to say that he had heard many times from Mizuhara Yuki’s classmates that not long before the accident, she had said, ‘I fell in love with someone whom I shouldn’t love.’ “Mizuhara Yuki basically treats her co-male models with contempt [/don’t care for them]. She fell in love with you, right. *Shiki looks unfazed* You also been doing some things before Mizuhara Yuki disappeared. You had submitted a work application for a long term vacation. You even pass it on to your patients and the other doctors..

..You guys plan on committing a double suicide [/die together in the name of love]. *Eiji is surprised by this.* But it failed. Mizuhara Yuki died and you live. Or should I say, it is in order to hinder Mizuhara Yuki from removing the revised drug dosage? For you to be able to completely change Saki’s appearance without any difference from Mizuhara Yuki, it would be easy for you to revise the drug dosage, right?” [<- I think Sou is implying that Yuki found out some medical malpractice that Shiki is doing so Shiki killed her.] Shiki darkly tells Sou to shut up for it has nothing to do with him. Sou says that what he said just now is a joke, and he is sorry if it is hard on Shiki. “You’re affectionate to your younger sister that you had overlapped Saki with the deceased Yuki, cherishing her until now. If it isn’t that kind of reason, then it is impossible for someone like you, an elite of the medical world, to not hesitate in sacrificing your life for Saki since it costs too much. ..I can understand your feelings for wanting a double suicide because for siblings to mutually love each other is basically scorned [by others].” Shiki interrupts him by saying that Sou didn’t come here to say those things, right. “Go to the main topic and don’t waste time already. Can you give Yuki-chan back to us? She doesn’t have any impression about the culprits. Furthermore, she will disappear from your [and Yuuya’s] sight. I won’t let her get involved in this again. Regarding your [and Yuuya’s] deeds, I’ll also close my mouth shut. You guys also do not want to become like Asumi Kousuke and Ono Yoshimaru, right?”

Sou says of course..he still doesn’t want to die. “But for us, there is no benefit to make things end like that. The police are investigating Erika’s remains that they found. Most probably, it is only a matter of time before they find the culprits. So, I not only called you but I also called out Eiji.” Eiji and Shiki tensely look at each other in surprise. Touching a butterfly [/fan] knife beside him, Sou says, “I have something to ask you, Eiji. Go kill, Mizuhara Shiki. *Eiji is shock* Help us cover up the crime of killing Erika. You’ll aid me and Yuuya by becoming an accomplice. This way, you and Yuki-chan won’t have any relation again. I will testify that you killed someone due to [a reasonable] self-defense. I’ll tell you later on what you’ll say for us to say the same thing. A person who had died once had nothing to fear. The person, who is undaunted by any dangers, is the most troublesome. *Shiki looks tense* How about it, Eiji? If you refuse, I’ll kill Saki.” Eiji looks flustered and tense. Blurb: “Forced into desperate straits, Eiji is made to make one choice!?”

Comment: And it turns out that Sou knows that Eiji is lying. Apparently, Eiji is a very poor liar since he is nice and everything. And yes, it seems that he tends to say things to people he shouldn’t be telling what he knows. ^^; I’m not too sure if Yuuya actually believed that Saki is Yuki or he felt that Yuki won’t remember anyway so he is fine to have a ‘new romance’ with her. He is apparently smitten if he plans to carry on that relationship with Yuki. And when Yuuya said that he won’t have sex without consent, I wonder if that is true or not..because of how Sou is making that side glance at Yuuya. It is strange though why Sou kept the secret about Yuki is Saki from Yuuya. Is it for Yuuya not to have a ‘scattered image’ of Yuki? Even so, it is ironic that he fell in love with someone he tried to kill before just because she has amnesia and looks different. For now, they still manage to deceive Yuki even if she is having some doubts. In this series, it seems that ‘beauty or attraction is really on the eye of the beholder’. Sou thinks that there is nothing special about Yuki/Saki, for Yuuya, Eiji has everything but for Erika, Eiji has nothing much if compared to Yuuya. I must say Yuuya is indeed stupid for killing Erika. This is a girl who accepts his everything even the dark side. Yet, he is too concerned about his ‘shiny prince’ image being shattered that he wants to kill her. And, yes, regret it, after it is too late. I guess this is the reason why he was mourning with Eiji over the two’s disappearance before.

I don’t think that Yuki can fill that place since she is basically Saki. Sou and Yuuya might not know that Yuki has been having recollections through dreams as to who she is and what they did to her. It would be bad for her if they knew. So, that is Yuuya’s reason for the deaths of the two girls. Seems somewhat lame yet in a way, realistic for people can kill others for really small things which in this case, seems big at that time. Yuuya is pretty much consumed with jealousy for Eiji. He likes Eiji enough to want to be like him but then, hate him and everything related to him since he wasn’t able to be like him. So ya, Saki is indeed collateral damage but not because of Erika but because of Eiji. In a way, what happened to Saki is pretty much inevitable since she is Eiji’s girlfriend and best friend of Erika. Both are in Yuuya’s ‘hit list’. Now, it turns out that Erika really loves Yuuya so about Erika being flirty and everything was a lie. I got really tricked by Sou on that one. ^^; Hehe, I guess it is because of Erika’s image. ^^; I guess we should more or less consider most of what Sou is saying/had said, as lies. I wonder though why Sou is helping Yuuya up to this extent. What is Sou’s motive in all this or even the other two guys for having a hand on what happened? Could it be that Sou blackmailed them to do it? It seems that Sou is some sort of Yuuya’s adviser since it is Sou’s approval that got Erika killed. I slightly got the incest part right about Shiki but it turns out that it is mutual.

I think Eiji should copy Shiki who kept quiet rather than confirm or deny anything that is being said. Shiki got angry when Sou is implying that he harmed his sister so I guess the first part is correct, they tried to commit a lovers’ double suicide so I wonder what went wrong that Shiki lived. Did he chickened out or he accidentally failed to die? Still, why didn’t he continue it but rather drive back with her in the car? But then, was it really mutual incest? Maybe the real Yuki tried to do a double suicide without his consent? But then, why is he notifying everyone about the long term vacation? Was it really just a long term vacation with Yuki? Well, Shiki kept his silence so it is up to us to speculate which one or maybe none of what Sou is saying is the truth. I’m slightly hoping that Shiki has something up more under his sleeve that he can threaten about killing them even if Yuki is still their hostage. Or maybe, he just underestimated Sou who is obviously the brains of everything. Since he is quite good in investigating and probably has connections with the police, Sou seems to know that they will be caught soon. I guess they will pin the murder on Shiki then Yuki would sever her ties with Eiji for killing ‘her’ brother. So, that will make Yuuya happy with Yuki. Case closed. So, will Eiji do it? Shiki might be okay being killed but he won’t just leaving Yuki with her attempted murderers. It might be a matter of time, too, when they’ll kill her especially if she starts to remember.

Eiji should also be able to realize that Sou cannot be trusted for what’s stopping Sou from pinning the crime to him which they are already doing. Yuki might even testify about seeing the Saki’s bag strap in his house. Either way, Eiji stands to lose Saki again. I wonder if Sou is intentionally doing that for Yuuya, who wants Eiji to suffer. Hm..for Sou to understand the feelings of having a forbidden love, it makes me wonder if he loves Yuuya so he is doing all of this for him. ^^;; Hehe, maybe Sou just owe Yuuya something very big. Anyway, I cannot think of ways as to how they can get out of that situation.  Delaying things or even teaming up to get to Sou is useless since Yuuya has Yuki. Eiji cannot be sure if Yuuya won’t kill Yuki even if he said that he wants to recover by having a new love. Eiji doesn’t have the medical knowledge to stab Shiki and miss the vital parts. Shiki doesn’t seem to have anticipated this turn of events. So if ever, the only bet would be Yuki remembering everything and actually doing something to get them out of this problem. At least, she can provide an element of surprise, wherein they do not know that she already remembers. The problem with that though if Yuki is really going there soon. Maybe she will, like Sou said, so that she’ll witness the murder of ‘her brother’ or Sou is lying again. Maybe he is lying about the police making any progress, too. Anyway, as mentioned before, do not spoil me on what happens afterwards, thanks ^^

Quote of the day:

A fake friend can cause much more damage to you than a real enemy. ~ Louise Angela Deseles