I run.
I run, run, run.
To the only place that acts as my sanctuary.
The place where my family and I live.
I neglect greeting them, but my sister is persistent in having me join them for dinner. She suggests that it feels like we haven't been together like a family.
What bullshit?
When have we ever been together like some sort of happy family?
She attempted to grab my arm, but I pushed her away as I climbed up the stairs to my room.
I hear a thud, and instead of confirming whether or not I pushed her down, I press onward to my room.
My heart is racing.
My skin feels like it's crawling with maggots.
My mouth feels like a desert that hasn't had a drop of rain in centuries.
I feel incredibly hot, and my lower body feels wet and sticky.
I've got no clue how I was able to manage my way up the stairs to my room.
"It's because I helped you, Kiyomi Otonashi."
Once again, I am struck with paralysis.
I can't move my head up to face the person who said that.
No.
I don't want to look up to see who said that.
I don't want to confirm my belief.
I'll continue here, existing within this monologue and only this monologue. I'll remain a character who only exists within words on a page that no one is reading.
I won't face reality.
I won't face—
"Kiyomi? What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Stop.
"You don't seem well. Are you okay?"
Stop.
"Do you need me to call your parents? Surely they can help you."
Stop.
I don't want them to help me.
I don't want anyone to help me.
I want you to—
"Kiyomi," Olympia shouts my name, causing me to instinctively face forward. "Ah, so he does have ears. What makes you think you can ignore me like that? I'm trying to look out for you, and this is how you repay me? Tch. How unappreciative you are."
Olympia.
Olympia Ventura is in my room.
How?
"You may be wondering why or how I entered your room," Olympia continues, as if she can read my mind. "The answer is simple. You're little sister let me in. Don't worry, I know better than to let your parents know that you have such a beautiful woman waiting for you in your room, on your bed. So I waited until I noticed your little sister was near the entrance to knock. Then I told her about who I am to you, and explained why she shouldn't let your parents know that I'm here. Smart, isn't she?"
Shut up.
"It felt like I've waited forever just to see you. I had hoped you'd be more excited to see me. Especially after that perverted conversation you shared with Kumiko."
How—
How do you know that?
"Well, how else would I know that, silly? She told me herself. Wanna guess how?"
Stop playing these fucking games with me.
I can't take it anymore.
Please?
"Well, that's a secret that should be kept between two women, hehe. Anyway, Kiyomi, I thought that there's no better time than now to go witch hunting. I know it's still rather sunny, but maybe we'll be able to spot the witch more easily."
I get up.
"You likely don't care about the affairs I had to attend to after school. But I'll tell you anyway. Since the school was trashed by some lunatic—Wait, did I share this with you already? Well, it was probably a while ago, so let me refresh your memory."
I take a step forward.
"This nutjob decided to break into our school last night and create a hurricane. Maybe we should call it Hurricane Kiyomi. Wait, that only makes sense if it were you who caused the mess. But it wasn't you. Of course, not."
I take two steps forward.
"This foolish human, if you can call them that, decided to break every door down in our school and scoured around the rooms, leaving none untouched. Hell, he—I mean, they, didn't just stop at classrooms. They went through our lockers, too. Some people are calling this person a twisted pervert, too, considering that they didn't spare the women's changing room or their lockers. You get what I'm saying, right, Kiyomi?"
I take three steps forward.
Olympia is only an arm's length away from me now.
"What should we do for today's witch hunt, huh, Kiyomi? I was thinking maybe we can first grab some food at the dog cafe that we went to yesterday. Or was that the last chapter? Wait…now that I think about it, that could've been the previous volume. No, of course, not. That's what's going to happen during the series finale. Oops, apologies to those who are reading; I didn't mean to spoil you. Next time, I'll give a huge spoiler warning in all caps with red text color."
So, I stretch out my arms.
"Kiyomi, how bold of you… I didn't expect you to be so forward."
Before I realize what I'm doing, I put my hands around her neck.
"Ahh—I knew you were kinky based on our discussion of tits and ass, but I didn't know that you were this freaky."
Wait. That wasn't—
No, that was someone else.
Or…wasn't it?
I squeeze.
"K-Kiyomi. I don't like this. Please stop."
I push her down on the bed, with my hands still wrapped around her soft, pale neck, and squeeze even harder.
"K-Ki…yo… Please, stop."
Tears are streaming down her face, one hitting the mole underneath her right eye.
But I don't care.
None of that matters.
None of this matters.
Kiyomi Otonashi doesn't matter.
Olympia Ventura doesn't matter.
So—
Rather than squeezing tightly.
I choke her.
No more words can come out of her mouth.
Then all of a sudden—
She stops begging me to stop.
She stops crying.
She stops being.
I sit beside where Olympia once sat.
There's nothing else to this story.
Then I notice something in the corner of my eye.
My phone, which I must've dropped during all of this, flashes on, indicating that I got a notification message.
I get up to check the message, and what I see brings me to disbelief.
Olympia messaged me, saying:
Kiyo! Sorry that I haven't been able to entertain you. I was swamped with cleaning up after what happened at the school. Let's meet up to continue our witch hunt. I'll send you the details once I get a chance; I'm still awfully busy.
Ciao ciao.
I turn around, and there's no evidence that someone was on my bed.
She had wings.
I know she did.
But when I reached out, they crumbled—just butterfly dust, scattered all over me like a memory I shouldn't touch.