Barefaced

"What?" You sit up a bit, cocking your head to the side.

"Why did he say that to you?" Aimi asks. Her eyes widen and then she gasps. "Wait... did he hurt you...? Did he touch you?" She walks closer to you. "Did he force himself on to you...?" She says in a nervous tone.

"..." You look forward while adjusting yourself by sitting up straight. You look back at Aimi. "You're not staying at Ren's anymore?" Aimi looks away and sighs. She lets go of her backpack, causing it to fall to the ground. Then she walks over to the couch and she sits down next to you.

"Ren made me leave... he wouldn't tell me anything. He was upset and wouldn't say why... he then took his anger out on me and so I left." She softly sighs. Now that you have a closer look at her face you notice her eyes are red and she has tear streaks on her cheeks. 

"Have you been crying?" You ask, leaning closer towards her face, reaching out to touch her cheek. Aimi quickly looks away and uses her hoodie sleeves to wipe her face. 

"Damn... I was hoping you wouldn't ask that... I didn't know it was that noticeable." Aimi quietly says.

"What happened...? Why were you crying?" You ask. Aimi looks down at the ground and slowly shakes her head. 

"...He yelled at me... I asked him why he was upset, and then he mentioned you. I thought me and him were doing well... like- never mind." She sighs and leans back. You stare at her for a bit before getting up and walking into the kitchen to see what you had in your fridge, opening it to see it empty. You're hungry and notice there's not much to eat other than dorayaki and a few pastries that are downstairs in the bakery's fridge. You're not really in the mood to eat anything sweet. You close the fridge, and you slowly walk into your bedroom, plopping down on the bed and sighing loudly. 

"Yuki... why did you sigh so loudly like that?" Aimi asks staring at you from the couch. 

"There's no food and I'm hungry..." You sigh.

"Oh... now thinking about it... I haven't eaten either..." Aimi replies. She sits up and slowly walks into your room, leaning against the door frame. "Want to grab something from the convenience store?" Aimi asks.

"I don't have any money..." You groan, shoving your face into the pillow. 

"I don't have any more money on me too..." Aimi adds. "Wait... don't you store your money under your bed?" Aimi asks, tilting her head to the side. Under your bed? Wait, why does Aimi know this? You slowly sit up and sluggishly drop to the ground. "Can you buy me something from the store too...? I mean you don't have to, but I am so hungry... I will pay you back... I promise." Aimi sooths. You grab your blanket that's hanging off the bed to throw it back onto the bed so that you can look under the bed, but you pause when you see a white pill on the ground. 

"What's this?" You whisper reaching out towards it. Aimi notices it too. You pick up the pill examining it. You couldn't figure out what kind of pill it is, but you start to feel uneasy. You slowly lift the blanket up, revealing an open bottle and pills scattered on the ground. Your eyes widen and you feel a sudden stabbing pain in your chest.

"ARGHHH..." You clench onto your chest, falling flat onto the ground and curling up. Aimi drops down to you.

"Yuki? YUKI? HEY!!! HEY!!!!" Aimi starts to shake you. Your body hurts... everything hurts. The memories, the pain... all of it hurts. You want to throw up. You get up quickly and ran into the bathroom, dropping down, hovering over the toilet. 

After throwing up, you sit quietly in front of the toilet. Aimi slowly walks into the bathroom holding a water bottle. "I hope your grandmother doesn't mind me taking a water bottle from the fridge downstairs." She cracks it open and hands it to you. You open it the rest of the way and you take a few sips of the water. "What were those pills...?" Aimi questions... you don't respond. "Yuki?" Aimi says looking at you. You sit still in front of the toilet not moving or making any noise. "... Can I take some yen and go to the convenience store...? I will get you something to soothe your stomach, okay?" You slowly nod. You hear her walk away and out the door. You sit quietly thinking about all the memories that flooded your mind earlier. 

It all makes sense now. Who Yuki is... What happened to Yuki... Why you are Yuki and those pills... Yuki took them the day you woke up as her. She took them hoping to end her life. She was successful in doing so. Then you took her place, waking up in her body. Yuki died and you woke back up as Yuki... so that means the real Yuki is dead.

I hope she's resting peacefully alongside her mom. You thought to yourself. You rub your head feeling sad. "This is all too much for me..." You say to yourself.

What doesn't make much sense is why you're here to begin with. Why are you in Yuki's body and living her life? Your eyes start to fill up with tears. "Her grandparents have no idea... Her friends have no idea..." You start to sob. You slowly stand up and walk over towards your bedroom. You grab your blanket and you slowly lay down in the bed. You cover your body completely under the blanket and you fall asleep. 

A little later Aimi comes back with a bag of food. She notices you sleeping and decides to leave you alone.

The next day in the afternoon; downstairs in the bakery....

"Hi Mrs. Sato... Is Yuki home?"

"Uh... Yes... She wasn't feeling well so she stayed home from school today... and who may you two be?" Yuki's grandmother asks. Mikey smiles. Draken bows.

"I am Ken Ryuguji... and he's..." Draken motions to Mikey. 

"Manjiro Sano... We are friends of Yuki..." Mikey continues. Yuki's grandmother smiles really hard and nods, motioning Mikey and Draken towards the back of the bakery. Mikey and Draken walks to the back, walking towards the stairs.

"Oh... and one thing- Yuki has been having a really hard time lately... so if at all possible-" Yuki's grandmother starts.

"We will take care of her... Don't worry." Draken comforts. She nods. 

Mikey and Draken walk up the stairs and opens the door walking into the living room.

"She's still asleep at this time of day?" Mikey sighs looking around and walking towards your bedroom.

"Her grandmother did say she wasn't feeling good." Draken replies. Mikey slides open your bedroom door, slowly walking into your room. 

"Yuki?" Mikey softly says walking closer to your bed.

You slowly open your eyes, still under the blanket. 

"Yuki..." Mikey says again looking down at the blanket you're under. You recognize his voice and chose to ignore him and not move at all. Maybe he will leave if he thinks I'm asleep. You thought to yourself. Mikey grabs your blanket and aggressively pulls it off you. The cold air hits your body and causes you to shiver. Draken looks away and walks towards the kitchen, out of view of the bedroom. "Oh... You sleep with only a bra and panties?" Mikey asks. You look at him confused and then down at your body. Your eyes widen. When did I take off my clothes? You thought to yourself.

You snatch your blanket away from him, covering yourself. Mikey smiles and leans down towards you, putting his hands on the bed, leaning on them. "Are you embarrassed?" He teases. You furrow your eyes and look down, avoiding eye contact. 

"Mikey... We have to go..." Draken sighs. Mikey's smile goes away. He moves your hair from out of your face and sighs. 

"Get dressed..." Mikey says.

"Get dressed? Why?" You ask.

"We have to go meet with someone in a bit... I want you to come with us..." Mikey replies. 

"But I'm not feeling well-" You say groggily. 

"You look fine to me." He says in a low tone. "Get dressed or I will dress you..." Mikey adds slowly standing straight and putting his hands in his pockets. You sigh and nod.

After getting dressed and brushing your hair, you, Mikey, and Draken walk outside, towards their motorcycles. Mikey motions you to get on the back of his. You get on, holding onto Mikey. He turns on his bike and drives off. The wind hitting your face feels nice, it almost makes you want to fall asleep. 

After driving a bit, he stops his bike in front of a warehouse. Mikey helps you off and motions you to walk in front of him. You feel uneasy... You're too tired for this. 

Once you make it into the warehouse you see the same people you saw last night. Mikey walks over to a stack of wooden boards and sits on them. You stand by him, staring down at the ground. Draken stands next to you. 

"What's she doing here..." Peh-yan asks in an irritated tone... squinting his eyes at you.

"She needed to get out... so Mikey brought her along." Draken replies.

"Why? Is there a problem?" Mikey asks with a blank expression on his face. Peh-yan shakes his head. Mikey looks at Pah-chin. "Pah-chin... you wanted to talk-"Pah-chin furrows his eyebrows. He looks upset and emotional.

"Moebius... I want to kill them..." Mikey raises an eyebrow to Pah-chin's statement. Something about this feels familiar. 

"What happened?" Draken asks.

"They attacked my friend... and- they raped his girlfriend... They beaten her so badly that now she's in the hospital in critical condition..." Pah-chin fumed. He clenches his fist, and he starts breathing heavy. You start to feel drowsy and dizzy. You turn away and you walk out the warehouse. Everyone watches you walk out. Mikey looks back at Pah-chin.

You stand outside looking out into the distance. After 15 minutes everyone walks out the warehouse. You watch everyone get on their bikes and drive off... Except for Draken. You look down at the ground avoiding Draken. You hear Draken's footsteps as he walks on the gravel ground. He stops in front of you. You stare down at his feet. "Yuki." Draken says in a deep voice. You slowly look up at him.

"Mikey had to go do something... so you will be with me...Okay?" Draken says.

"Take me back home..." You respond. Draken stares at you for a bit before speaking. 

"Do you not like me?" He asks you. You ignore his question. "Or is it Mikey...?" He adds.

"I don't like Toman in general." You reply.

"..." Draken walks a little closer to you. "Why's that?" He asks.

"You guys go around causing chaos and not caring about those around you. All those innocent victims you caused harm to-" Draken stops you from finishing your sentence.

"I get it... but don't say that to Mikey, Okay...? It's not what you think Yuki..." Draken says. You shake your head, and you look away. 

"I don't care... Take me home." You repeat. Draken sighs and looks over towards his bike. 

"Are you hungry?" He asks looking back at you. You furrow your eyebrows and look at him. "Food makes me feel better when I'm upset... Let's go get some." He continues, walking towards his motorcycle. 

Is he not going to take me home? You thought to yourself. 

"Come on... We shouldn't stay here for long..." Draken says motioning you to get on his bike. You sigh and walk towards him, slowly getting on the back of his bike.