Yurui The Cursed One

I am halfway through the ice cream when Maevis points at my face.

“Oh, Yurui. Look at the mess you’ve made.”

My first thought is that some part of me has started changing again, but when I touch my cheek, I find only melted ice cream. Right. That kind of mess.

Maevis unfolds a handkerchief and leans toward me. Across the table, Yashiro’s head snaps up. The look she gives Maevis disappears almost as soon as it appears, but both of us catch it.

Maevis’s smile sharpens.

“My apologies,” she says. “I didn’t realize I was intruding.”

She holds the handkerchief out to Yashiro.

Yashiro stares at it, then at Maevis.

“Go on,” Maevis says pleasantly.

Yashiro takes it, pushes back her chair, and walks around the table. I consider wiping my own face, but it seems far too late to rescue either of us from whatever this has become. When she stops beside me, I can see how pale she still is. Her breathing has steadied, though each breath remains carefully measured.

“You don’t have to,” I whisper.

Her eyes flick toward Maevis.

“Yes, I do.”

She bends down and wipes the corner of my mouth. Her gentleness only makes the whole ordeal feel more absurd. Until a few days ago, she had been using me as her personal plaything. Then, l an hour or two ago, our positions had reversed, and I had pinned her against a wall with my fingers nearly crushing her throat.

And now we are doing… whatever this is.

The cloth passes over my lower lip as both of us avoid each other’s eyes. When she finishes, Yashiro folds the handkerchief so the stained portion disappears inside, then returns to her chair under Maevis’s watchful gaze.

Whatever appetite I had left is gone, but I finish the ice cream anyway. The habit of never wasting food has been ingrained too deeply in me to stop now, and by the time I scrape up the last melted spoonful, Yashiro has finished off what little remained of her cake as well.

Maevis sets her cup aside and places the car keys on the table in front of her.

“You two can wait in the car while I settle the bill.”

Yashiro grabs the keys at once.

“Did we even lock the door?” I whisper to her. Judging by the look she gives me, I immediately wish I’d kept my mouth shut. Maybe it’s one of those cars that locks itself. Hell, I don’t know. I can’t even remember the last time I was in a car. I really ought to learn when to shut up.

Maevis rises and heads toward the counter, but she has barely turned her back before Yashiro pushes away from the table. The legs of her chair scrape sharply across the floor.

“I’ll wait outside,” she mutters, already moving.

She does not wait to see whether I follow. By the time I make it through the door, she is halfway across the pavement. Cold air slips beneath the collar of my borrowed jacket, but Yashiro seems oblivious to the cold as she rushes past the strawberry-shaped sign with one hand clamped over her mouth.

She does not make it to the car. Her shoulders jerk, and she folds over so suddenly that I almost walk into her. Cake and cream splatter across the pavement as I stop beside her, unsure whether stepping closer would help or only make things worse.

Yashiro braces both hands against her knees and drags in a thin, unsteady breath. Before she can straighten, another heave tears through her. Nothing comes up this time, but her body keeps trying anyway, leaving her retching helplessly over the mess at her feet.

“Shit.”

I move toward her and reach for her shoulder. “Are you all—”

She knocks my hand aside before I can touch her, then immediately recoils as though she expects me to retaliate, and somehow that hurts more than the blow itself.

“Don’t.”

Sweat clings to her forehead. Her breaths come fast and shallow, and the car keys tremble between her fingers.

“I was only trying to help.”

“I know.”

She tries to straighten and fails. I glance toward the café windows, but Maevis is still at the counter with her back turned to us. I lean closer, shielding my mouth with one hand as if afraid someone might overhear.

“Does she always make you do things like that?” I whisper.

Yashiro’s eyes snap toward me. Whatever composure she had been clinging to is gone, exposing the same raw fear I had seen from her earlier today.

“Keep—”

The bell above the café door jingles.

Yashiro goes rigid. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, smooths down her skirt, and forces herself upright in one hurried motion. By the time Maevis reaches us, the panic has vanished from her face, replaced by the same calm expression she usually wears. The only hint of her distress is the set of keys trembling between her fingers.

Maevis glances at the mess on the pavement, then at Yashiro.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

The answer comes immediately, her voice perfectly composed.

Maevis takes the keys from her. “Good.”

That is all. No question, not a sign of concern. She does not even give the mess on the pavement another look before ushering us back into the car.

I climb into the back beside Yashiro. With only two seats in the rear, we are once again stuck sitting far closer than either of us would probably prefer. Earlier, that had only been awkward. Now, with barely a few inches between us, the closeness feels almost unbearable.

Maevis starts the engine and pulls out of the parking lot as though nothing happened, humming along with the radio and tapping one finger against the steering wheel. Beside me, Yashiro sits rigid, and every time Maevis glances at us through the mirror, her posture straightens a little more.

I turn toward the window and watch the city slide past. Several minutes go by without any of us speaking. I should leave Yashiro alone. She clearly does not want me asking questions, and I am hardly in a position to lecture anyone about staying close to people who hurt them. Still, that unfinished word keeps gnawing at me.

Keep.

Keep quiet, perhaps. Keep out of it. Whatever it was, it gave me an ominous feeling.

Yashiro has barely moved since we left the café, though every now and then I catch her eyes shifting toward the front of the car.

Keep—

The unfinished word is still circling through my head when Maevis suddenly says, “You two should exchange numbers.”

I look up. Maevis glances at us through the mirror, apparently oblivious to how strange the suggestion sounds after everything that happened today. “Since Yurui will be staying at the Security Force compound from now on, you two should have some way of keeping in touch. Give me your number, and I’ll pass it along to her.”

“Oh.” I instinctively reach toward my pocket before remembering there is nothing there. “I don’t have one anymore. I lost my phone.”

Rather than looking annoyed, Maevis brightens. “Perfect.”

I stare at the back of her head. “How is that perfect?”

“Because now I have an excuse to get you a new one.” She sounds almost pleased with herself. “And while we are at it, I think the two of you could use an opportunity to spend some time together somewhere other than school.”

It takes me a second to understand what she is suggesting. “You mean... together?”

Maevis smiles at me through the mirror. “Why not? A little play-date might do you both some good.”

Heat rushes into my cheeks, and I drop my gaze to my lap. Playdate. Of course she has to call it that. The word makes the whole thing sound almost cute, which is difficult to reconcile with the fact that less than half a day ago I had my hand around Yashiro’s throat.

Beside me, Yashiro has become very interested in whatever is outside the window.

Maevis lets the silence sit for a moment before prompting, “Well, Yurui? What do you say?”

My cheeks are still burning. I rub my thumb over one of the creases in my skirt and avoid looking anywhere near Yashiro. “F-Fine.”

“There we are.” Maevis sounds delighted. “Then it’s settled. I’ll call reception once I know when I’m coming to pick you up. We’ll make a whole field trip to the mall out of it—get you a new phone, have a look around, maybe find somewhere nice to eat.”

I am still trying to recover from the fact that this has somehow all been decided for me when Maevis adds, far too cheerfully, “I’m sure Yashiro will enjoy getting to spend some time with her friend.”

Friend.

My face grows hotter. I keep my eyes firmly on my lap, but from the corner of my vision, I catch Yashiro glance at me. It lasts barely a second before she turns back to the window.

We manage a few more minutes of painfully awkward small talk before Maevis finally turns off the main road and into a wide parking lot.

There is no mistaking our destination this time.

The building ahead sprawls across the block, all dark glass and pale concrete, with tall, narrow towers rising around it like a fence. MIRACLE INC. SECURITY stretches across the front in enormous letters that look visible from half the district.

A knot forms low in my chest.

So this is it.

Until now, the whole thing had felt strangely surreal. Maevis had made the offer so suddenly that some part of me still hadn’t expected anything to actually come of it. Hell, until recently I had been fairly convinced this was all some elaborate excuse to lure me into one of Miracle Inc.’s laboratories.

Actually, she could still be planning to have me arrested or quietly executed once I stepped inside, I suppose, but that seemed increasingly pointless. I had already let my guard down at the café. If Maevis wanted me dead, she could have dealt with me there without going through the hassle of taking me all the way out here under the pretense of a dream job offer.

Only now, staring up at Security Force headquarters, did it finally begin to sink in that she might actually have meant every word. My heart was beating hard enough to make my chest ache, and I could barely keep still in my seat. I was nervous—terrified, even, but beneath it all I could feel an unexpected spark of excitement.

Maevis pulls into a space near the entrance and switches off the engine.

For a moment, I remain in my seat, staring up at the building.

Here we go.

Whatever waited for me beyond those doors, I had the uncomfortable feeling that once I stepped through them, there would be no going back to the way things had been before—for better or worse.

I reach for the door handle.

“Wait.”

My hand stops.

Maevis unfastens her seat belt. “Stay here for a little while. I need to go inside and get a few things sorted first.”

“Oh.” I let go of the handle. “Okay.”

Normally, Maevis telling me to stay put while she disappeared inside a Miracle Inc. building would have set every alarm bell in my head ringing. Right now, though, I was too distracted by the thought that things might actually be looking up for once to give it much attention.

She gives me an encouraging smile before stepping out and closing the door behind her. I watch her cross the parking lot toward the entrance, growing smaller beneath those enormous letters until the glass doors slide open and swallow her, leaving Yashiro and me alone in the car.

Apparently, the day still had a few surprises left for me.

Considering what was waiting on the other side of those doors, being stranded alone with my crush was not the worst distraction I could have asked for. Great. As if my heart wasn’t already having a difficult enough morning.

Still, I certainly wasn’t going to complain about getting some extra time alone with Yashiro. If nothing else, it gave me something pleasant to focus on instead of letting my thoughts circle back to everything I had seen and endured over the past few days. With any luck, maybe the universe had finally decided I had suffered enough for one week.

Preferably a lifetime.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!