Chapter 15 - Visiting Her

I opened the door and met with a very irritated Lilith. She was glaring at me. I took off my shoes and headed to my room. Lilith followed me behind.

I put my bag down and look at Lilith staring at me.

"What the hell are you doing?" She finally broke the tension.

"What?"

"Do you have a death wish?"

"Your task is to decrease the negative energy in the host. Don't increase it." She was clearly angry at me.

"What the heck are you even doing? You don't even tell me anything you're doing. And now it seems like you've chosen death."

"Why don't you just read my mind?"

"Because I can't. You are always thinking about useless stuff."

"Well, maybe." I laughed and left the room. But she followed me to the kitchen.

"I want an answer Sakamaki-kun." She glared at me.

"Don't worry Devil-chan. I'll make it work out somehow. And even if I fail, you don't have to worry, because I'm the one who is going to die right?"

She nodded and I smiled. I was walking on an uncertain path that can break at any moment and lead me to my death. Seems like I'm going to die without even doing something which I could've been proud of.

I lived a useless life. I tried to better myself just to match the level of that person. And where did it lead me to? The dead end. I was an empty person who was not good at anything.

I ate my dinner and was waiting for Tomose to text me as usual but the argument seems to have affected her a lot because she didn't text me that night.

I texted her a lot but all the texts were left on seen.

She wasn't in the mood to talk. I guess she should really isolate herself for sometime and contemplate her life.

Of course, this was my time to help her. I can't leave her alone in her times of need.

I went to the school the next day but Tomose didn't come to school. The teacher said she was sick.

Well, of course, she wasn't sick. And Kana appeared to be worried about her.

At lunchtime, I was sitting with Kana while discussing this matter with her. It was important because this event definitely affected Tomose and I was indeed worried about her but it has indirectly affected me too since she was my target.

"I'm still confused about this whole matter," Kana said.

"I know, maybe we accused her wrongly."

"What?" She narrowed her eyes as she glanced at me.

"Think about it. Why would she do something like this?"

"I... I don't know." She stared at the table. "Are you saying someone framed her?" She looked at me.

"Do you know anyone who could be benefitted by framing Tomose-san?" Kana nodded as I asked her this question.

I could think of only one person who would be happy from Tomose getting insulted publicly.

Yeah.

It was none other than Yoshiwa. She even said about doing something to Tomose indirectly. Even though my conversation with Yoshiwa definitely made it seem like Yoshiwa had a solid motive to frame her.

But the possibility of Yoshiwa writing that letter and framing Tomose was zero. Since the letter was written completely in Tomose's handwriting.

There was no chance for me to convince other's and prove Tomose's innocence. This was a case of Probatio Diabolica. My chances of making her fall for me was straying further than me by every passing second.

"Huh, are you here?" Kana snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah… I don't know." I said hesitantly.

"I know Sakamaki-kun, but you can't ignore the facts before you." She was referring to that letter.

"But then again-" I swallowed my words before they could escape from my mouth.

"Then again? What?" Kana was curious. I looked at her and continued. Since there was no point in hiding it, anyway.

"Well, I talked with Tomose a few days ago and she said something along the lines of being able to complete her desires." I said.

"Huh? What do you mean? Desires?"

"Yeah, and she did mention that she wanted to tell you, people, a lot of things but she can't."

I sipped the chocolate milk and glanced at Kana. She might not be that good of an observer after all.

"See, everything you just said makes me think that she did it." She said.

"How?" I asked.

"I feel like we never listened to her, that's why she finally vented her piled up frustration like this."

"So… you mean... she wrote it in a letter and put it in Sakura-san's locker specifically?" I said.

'That's most probable. No, I'm sure that's what happened."

"She did..." I was cut off by her.

"It doesn't matter if she did it or not." She continued.

"I wasn't a good friend. I failed to notice that she was silently suffering. What's wrong with me!?" She clenched her fist in frustration.

Kana wasn't as good of an observer as I assumed her to be. She couldn't notice the changes in Tomose's behaviour pattern. There were slight indications that Tomose was depressed and was having social anxiety.

"I think I should visit her home." Kana said. She was genuinely worried about Tomose, so that was a good thing.

"I don't think she would want to meet you."

"Well… you... you're right. But I… I want to know if she's okay or not."

"Why don't I visit her?" I proposed.

"Well, do you know where she lives?"

"No, but you can tell me that." I smiled.

She agreed to that and told me her address. I decided to pass that day's class notes to her. Actually, that was an excuse to visit her.

Kana and I walked together to Tomose's home. Kana went her separate way, but she told me to text her about what happened.

I moved towards her main door and pressed the doorbell. I heard the buzz inside and waited patiently for someone to open the door. Tomose lived far from where my apartment was.

It was definitely out of my way to come and visit her. Though I had my own circumstances.

I heard footsteps approaching the door, and the knob turned as a middle-aged woman with braided black hair cracked the door and looked at me.

"Good Evening, I'm Saishi Sakamaki from Tomose's class. I had these notes I needed to pass to her." I introduced myself and raised the notes in my hand so that she could see them.

Her lips curved to form a smile, and she opened the door wider. Now that I had a better look at her. She shared the same eyes as Tomose.

"That's really nice of you. Why don't you come inside?" She invited me in, but it was awkward for me since I have visited no one's house except for Yukimura.

"Come inside and wait. I'll just call her." I couldn't reject that since she was being kindly assertive and it may seem rude to reject her.

I nodded and stepped inside.