Mayuzumi advised me that final night time a person got here to her.

“He stated he crushed eyes,” she continued in a candy voice, crushing eyeballs. “Gouged the eyes out of many individuals.”

The person had heard about Mayuzumi by way of rumors. He visited the house and made an pressing request by way of the intercom, pleading desperately.

“His request was so unusual that I believed he was mistaken.”

He didn’t need to gouge eyes out anymore.

He needed her assist.

He pleaded time and again, however Mayuzumi turned him down.

“Asking for my assistance is tantamount to suicide.”

Nonetheless, the person endured and begged to be heard. Overwhelmed by his tenacity, Mayuzumi relented and opened the door with the chain nonetheless hooked up.

His bloodshot eyes met Mayuzumi’s.

The person’s eyes have been murky, stuffed with blood vessels. Sensing hazard, Mayuzumi shortly closed the door, however the man jammed an umbrella by way of the hole.

Repeatedly, the person tried to poke Mayuzumi’s eyes with the umbrella.

“Once I say our eyes met, it wasn’t only a easy change of gazes,” Mayuzumi recalled. “As quickly as he perceived me, one thing in him modified. At that very second, I used to be caught in his gaze and my eyeballs have been violated… in his thoughts.”

Mayuzumi pressured the door shut.

The person struck the door with the umbrella time and again. The insanity continued for a very long time, till all of a sudden it turned quiet. He then apologized for what he did and fled the scene.

“It was like no matter evil spirit was possessing him left. I believe it was the door blocking his gaze that brought on the change. When he sees an eye fixed, he will get an intense response. Nearly like an habit. His apology was doubtless meaningless.”

Assembly somebody’s gaze burned all his sense of motive. He may briefly regain his composure, however he would quickly revert to madness.

Mayuzumi rested her elbows on the leather-based sofa as she spoke matter-of-factly. There was no trace of concern in her voice. But, I couldn’t assist however frown on the lingering query: the place had the person gone?

He was nonetheless on the market, on the free, with the police but to catch him.

“He stated he didn’t need to pluck out eyeballs. Meaning he doesn’t need to commit any extra crime,” I stated.

“If you happen to have been to take his phrases at face worth, then sure. However why did he really feel the necessity to inform me of this? Give it some thought. If you happen to may remedy your downside your self, you wouldn’t want to hunt assist.”

Mayuzumi picked up a cup from the desk and dropped an eyeball into the new chocolate. The golden spoon twirled spherical and spherical.

“I consider he got here to me as a result of he was scuffling with the compulsion to kill a lady after making eye contact,” she continued, scooping out the half-melted eyeball. “His episodes apparently final from the second he makes eye contact with a lady till he plucks out her eyes. After which he sought assist, solely to flee with out us having a correct dialog.”

The eyeball slid from the spoon and onto her crimson tongue, melting right into a candy fluid.

As I noticed Mayuzumi shut her eyes and swallow, I felt a chill run down my backbone. What she was consuming was mere sweet, however it was disgusting nonetheless. Slowly, she opened her fairly eyes. The moment I noticed them, her earlier phrases echoed in my thoughts.

“Odagiri-kun, I simply may get killed.”

It may well’t be.

“He murders girls he makes eye contact with,” I stated. “And the 2 of you did make eye contact. Is there any likelihood that he may come once more to kill you?”

“A big one. Our gazes met. That alone has doubtless left him with an irregular longing for my eyeballs… Such is the character of obsession.”

Her crimson lips curved right into a smile. Her moist eyes blinked, emanating a fascinating glow.

Mayuzumi didn’t appear involved in regards to the looming hazard.

She lifted the cup with grace. “There are lots of urges on this world that may’t be contained except you destroy the particular person. Maybe it’s a tough idea so that you can comprehend, or perhaps you perceive it due to your individual expertise.”

A nasty gaze crept over my stomach. The child inside me squirmed. I clutched my abdomen and averted my gaze away from hers. After ending her drink, Mayuzumi positioned the cup again on the saucer.

With out making eye contact, I posed a query to her. “Then why are you simply sitting right here? He is aware of about this place. He can break the door down if he actually desires to.”

“You need me to hunt safety from the police or the Mayuzumi clan? No manner. It’s an excessive amount of bother. In addition to, they could firmly object to my taking circumstances sooner or later. If the person involves pluck out my eyeballs, then so be it. We’ll cross that bridge after we get there.”

Mayuzumi dismissed my suggestion with a bored tone. My head aching, I attempted to consider a distinct answer. She didn’t need safety, however I couldn’t simply depart her like this.

Mayuzumi was only a frail little lady. Her perspective was infuriating, however I couldn’t bear to see her eyes being gouged out.

“Then I’ll report it to the cops myself,” I instructed. “He has claimed lives already, to allow them to’t ignore any data on him. Within the meantime, you keep in a lodge or one thing. Does that work?”

“I might like to see how you’d clarify the scenario. High quality, then. I doubt you’re going to make any extra compromises. Transferring is annoying, however it beats ready round to get killed.”

Mayuzumi heaved a weary sigh—one thing I ought to be doing as a substitute. How did I meet the person? Who owns this house? I wanted to give you solutions to the inevitable questions.

I stood up, unable to consider something. I closed the chocolate field and headed to Mayuzumi’s room to collect necessities. Her extravagant wardrobe wouldn’t match into one suitcase, so I carried a number of luggage stuffed with garments again to Mayuzumi.

“Let’s go, Mayu-san. The earlier we depart, the higher.”

“Properly, aren’t you in a rush? The place precisely are you planning to take me?”

“Let’s see… My house could be effective, however there’s no AC.”

Mayuzumi trailed behind me, a glance of discontent etched on her face. We left the workplace, suffused with a saccharine aroma, and hastened to the underground parking zone by way of the elevator.

Because the elevator creaked to a cease and the doorways groaned open, I used to be greeted by the scent of rusty iron. A pungent stench assaulted my senses.

One thing incongruous had crept into the acquainted environs. An excellent crimson hue was splattered throughout the drab grey ground.

I stood transfixed by the bizarre scene. Standing earlier than me was a person in a raincoat, holding a black umbrella. A number of drops trickled down the floor of the umbrella, forming a small puddle on the ground that appeared to inch in the direction of his black leather-based sneakers.

The person appeared to have come by way of the rain.

Nevertheless it wasn’t raining immediately. The droplets have been crimson and sticky. The crimson hue on the bottom was slowly undulating like a dwelling entity, extending its arms in all instructions.

My eyes caught sight of a twisted, spherical object caught to the tip of the person’s umbrella, with what seemed like a crimson thread tangled round it. It took a second for me to register that it was an optic nerve.

The person all of a sudden lifted his head. Slim eyes peered at me from beneath the grey raincoat. Blood vessels coursed the whites of his eyes, and his pupils darted round restlessly.

Lastly, I noticed what was taking place. I swung the suitcase within the man’s route. I missed my mark, and the suitcase fell on the man’s ft as he jumped again.

I turned to Mayuzumi, my voice laced with urgency. “Run, Mayu-san!”

The person lifted his bloody umbrella and aimed it at me like a sword. The tip grazed my cheek, sending a pointy jolt by way of my eye.

Acute ache pierced my eye sockets and rattled my mind. My imaginative and prescient turned black, and blood spilled out.

“Huh?”

The feeling vanished immediately. Sticky tears ran down my face, and it felt like one thing was digging into my eyeball. My imaginative and prescient flickered. I moved my ft to get away. My instincts warned me to not come into contact with the crimson umbrella.

I didn’t know what would occur if I grabbed it.

My ft bought tangled, and I nearly tumbled to the bottom. Tears clouded my imaginative and prescient. By means of my twitching eyelids, I caught a glimpse of a twisted determine.

He raised his umbrella excessive, and introduced its grip down upon my brow.

My pores and skin break up open, and blood poured out. As I lined my face with my fingers, I used to be struck at the back of the pinnacle, sending me crashing onto the laborious pavement of the parking zone. It felt like a hand was clawing my cranium, stirring the within. Heat abdomen acid spewed out of my abdomen. The kid in my stomach whined in concern.

I opened my bloody eyes. In my obstructed view, I discerned a darkish determine.

The parasol in her hand was as vividly crimson as the person’s umbrella.

I reached for her, making an attempt to warn her to run away.

My consciousness pale.