#yanchan

Megami Saikou

Ayano naively believed the stakes couldn't get any higher. Just how much harder could things possibly get? Her world was once again rattled when a prominent figure of Akademi re-emerged from obscurity; Megami Saikou, the student council president and heiress to the Saikou company.

During an assembly, she brought up several suspicious incidents that had recently taken place at the school- to which Ayano whistled and rolled her eyes- before swearing an oath to protect everyone. For a few days, nothing particularly noteworthy happened. But one day, you didn't show up to class. It was especially strange considering Ayano had definitely followed you to school earlier. The inescapable feeling of dread in her gut only grew as the day dragged on and you were still nowhere to be found. By the time cleaning hours rolled along, Ayano had reasoned that you were probably retaking a painfully long test or something. She was about to pass by the student council room when suddenly, the doors swung open, revealing a most appalling sight. Megami Saikou, proud and stoic as ever, with you hanging from her elbow. Needless to say, the whole school went nuclear. The Saikou prodigy? Dating a commoner like you? Unbelievable. There wasn't a moment you weren't seen around Megami. Whether that be sitting next to her in class, throned on her lap during student council meetings or leaning against her lovingly during walks, you remained glued to her. You appeared genuinely thrilled to be with the president. Megami, on the other hand, was more than content with treating you like a lucky charm and giving you the occasional head pat or kiss on the cheek. The two of you left a series of reactions in your wake; a mix of confusion, shock and disgust. But nobody was nearly as enraged as Ayano. Her homicidal tendencies returned with the force of a thousand suns, with the epicentre of them all being the girl at the very top. Very well then... she'd just have to take matters into her own hands again. Armed with a freshly sharpened knife, a circular saw and enough ketamine to take out a horse, Ayano's plan was to pay homage to her roots and take Megami out in a way that would make her ancestors proud. But just as she was about to slam her locker shut, a slip of paper caught her eye. Upon closer inspection, the angular handwriting read: "Meet me in the student council room immediately. We have a lot to talk about." Ayano had to give it to Megami, she was headstrong enough to challenge an Aishi. Of course, she could easily ignore the note and go on with her day but judging by the way the other student council members glared at her, she knew she'd be sent there sooner or later. She made sure the outline of her blade wasn't visible through her plated skirt and stepped inside, expecting to be met face-to-face with those half-lidded silver eyes. ... And she was. In a sense. Only they were plastered onto a different face. A youthful one with a button nose and a sly grin belonging to a younger, masculine version of the Saikou heiress. Despite her unwavering poker face, the gleam in Ayano's eyes betrayed a speck of confusion, to which the boy took a step forward and adopted his best businessman voice. "Fret not, miss Aishi, I'm the one who left the note in your locker." Ayano glanced all around her, surveying the room for any potential hiding spots Megami and half a dozen cops could hypothetically make use of.

The boy cleared his throat and continued with his rehearsed speech. "My name is Kencho Saikou. I'm the second heir to Saikou corp." Ayano raised an eyebrow, her fingers instinctively brushing past the ragged teeth of the circular saw taped to her abdomen and concealed by the wool of her cardigan. "Second heir?", she echoed. The boy heaved a sigh of annoyance, his puffed-out chest deflating along with his ego.

"Yes, yes... My sister got the long end of the stick and now our parents treat me as nothing more than a back-up." A flicker of irritation caused Ayano's nostrils to flare. She hadn't signed up to hear some rich boy's sob story. Kencho was quick to pick up on the hints of her imminent departure and rushed to get into the thick of it. "Hey, will you hear me out for a second? I’ve got a proposal that might interest you.”

Ayano stopped in her tracks and raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening.” Kencho fixed the collar of his shirt and ran a hand over his slicked back hair, proud to have made it this far. “Okay, listen carefully. Megami’s got her eye on you. She’s under the impression that you’re responsible for that girl’s disappearance. You know the one, right? She also investigated some other strange incidents that happened recently and found out that they’re all somehow connected to a certain student.” Ayano’s breath hitched, her eyes widening in realization. You. The mere thought of you getting in trouble for things she did had her mind reeling. While she did a fine job in covering up her tracks, she never accounted for the breadcrumbs leading up to you.

“Y/N…”, she whispered. Kencho nodded, failing to notice the hearts in Ayano’s previously dull eyes. “Exactly. Megami thinks you’re eliminating everyone that attempts to date her. She started going out with her so she can lure you in.”

A newfound rush of pure wrath pooled in Ayano’s gut, framing her vision red. “She’s been trying to get under my skin, is that it?”, she hissed between gritted teeth.

Kencho fixed the cuffs of his sleeves, still oblivious to the sheer intensity of Ayano’s emotions. “Shocker, I know. My sister comes up with the most ridiculous conspiracies.” He hesitated, furrowing his eyebrows and glancing at Ayano for confirmation. “You do like Y/N, right?” Ayano went rigid, the sharp corners of her unfathomable anger temporarily dampened by the thought of you. A faint layer of pink dusted her cheeks, her heart itself eclosing into a butterfly. There was no use in hiding it. “I do”, she uttered. Kencho sighed in relief, more pleased to know that his theory was correct if anything. “That’s good. So, it’s safe to assume that you want Megami out of the picture as well.” The complexity of it all was more than enough to arouse a few suspicions of Ayano’s. To find someone who wanted the Saikou heiress gone was almost too convenient. “Why do you want Megami gone?”, she challenged him.

Kencho scoffed, having almost no inhibitions about sharing his frustrations with a potential murderer. “I’m tired of living in her shadow. The only chance I’ll get at running the company is if she’s dead or in deep trouble.” Ayano’s lips curled in a vague smile, looking forward to spilling some more blood. “You want someone to kill her?” For a moment, Kencho considered the possibility before his eyes went completely wide and he shook his head frantically. “Heavens, no! That’s far too risky and Megami’s near invincible anyway. I was thinking of getting her in trouble with the authorities.” Ayano rolled her eyes, admittedly a bit disappointed that her knife wouldn’t get any action. “Fine. What’s your plan then?”

Kencho crossed his arms and turned his nose up, visibly excited to play mastermind. “I say we smuggle narcotics in her stuff. I’ll tip the police anonymously and they’ll take her into custody. Even if she doesn’t end up in prison, it will take awfully long to clear her name and by then, our parents won’t want anything to do with her anymore.” Ayano furrowed her eyebrows. “Narcotics?” A lightbulb sparked to life above her head before she fished out a certain vial from her pocket. “Like this one?” The mere sight of the word Ketamine on the label had the faint-hearted heir stumbling backwards in shock. “Where’d you get that from? That’s – “

He paused, taking in the sight in front of him. He straightened his posture and nodded with all the approval of a smug movie director. “Actually, that will do just fine. Do you have any more?” Ayano shrugged. “I can cook some stuff up at home.” Kencho smiled up to his ears, unable to contain his enthusiasm. “That’s great! We can actually pull this off. You’ll get your friend back and I’ll be able to finally prove myself! And Megami won’t be pestering you about that girl’s disappearance anytime soon.” Yeah, she won’t.

No one could really blame you when you retreated to a remote corner of the rooftop to have a good cry. Those past few months have been nothing but one chaotic incident after the other, with all of them resulting in you losing someone dear to you.

Your childhood friend vanished from the face of the earth, your cooking buddy switched schools, your Primadonna hasn’t shown her face at all since that play, your goth occultist isn’t interested in hanging out with you anymore, your favourite delinquent got expelled and the whole fiasco with the student council president crippled you emotionally.

Finding out that Megami wasn’t truly interested in you, after all the sweet words she’d whisper to you in the hedge maze and the tender kisses she’d press to your temples, was a real blow to your spirit. Something about her stockpiling drugs and getting busted by the cops reached your ears but you couldn’t be bothered to ask around about it. You were simply glad you wouldn’t have to see her around anymore.

You had never felt so lonely before.

“Are you okay?”

A mellow voice snapped you out of your murky trance. You raised your head, teary eyes meeting with the blurry frame of a fellow classmate of yours. You couldn’t bring yourself to lie, limiting your answer to a simple shake of your head.

She understood. You sensed her kneeling in front of you, observing your face that had morphed into the mask of tragedy and taking in the cacophony of your whimpers. You could only imagine how ugly you must have seemed to her.

But she didn’t walk away. On quite the contrary, she wrapped her arms around you, pulling you into an embrace you didn’t know you needed. What little stability you had left crumbled underneath her presence.

As you wrapped your quivering hands around her, an oddly specific fear made itself known to you. The fear of abandonment. The fear that this girl would be ripped away from you as well, just like all the ones before her.

In a tremulous voice, you begged her.

“Please don’t leave me.”

And she responded the most earnestly she could.

“I will never leave you.”

Ayano was engulfed by a sense of victory as you melted in her arms. She had you right where she wanted you.

However, she chose to tuck away the chloroform-soaked cloth she had eagerly prepared for this occasion. She figured it wasn’t necessary. At least not yet. You had surrendered yourself to her with no hesitation whatsoever.

Drifting away from the family tradition couldn’t hurt too much. Ayano would hate to have to reduce you to a shell of your former self anyhow. Taking things slow and keeping you in the dark about everything that happened past your field of view was much more appealing.

Besides, the other girls would never love you nearly as much as Ayano. And unlike them, she would never, ever leave.