d3 // Yuno Gasai [Fin.]

The god of dreams smiles elegantly
and issues death

The day I first met him I fell in love. I was sitting at the back of the class, staring at the piece of paper the teacher had given us all half an hour ago. The class bell had come and gone, signalling the end of a school's day. Mother and father would be expecting me home, they always were and they always made sure I was never late. But today I had no choice, the quiz we had been told to fill out was troubling -- it was asking me what I wanted to do after I finished school. In all honesty I had not a single clue, I knew my mum and dad had plans already sorted, mum expected nothing less of perfect grades, therefore a career that would lead me into wealth and fortune and a rich husband. That was what was expected of me, and that was what i was supposed to achieve. Yet every time I placed the pen on the paper I could not force myself to write it.

I didn't want any of that.

It takes me no longer then a few seconds to decide that I'd go over to the other boy sitting in the room. I've been watching him for a little while. I twist my red hair around my finger, a light blush crawling onto my pale cheeks as I move to stand beside his desk. Just like my piece of paper his is just as blank. So I grab the pen from between his fingers, slender fingers drawing it away. He glances up at me and I smile, teeth flashing, eyes crinkling up at the corners. Freckles move as my face changes and my dark brown eyes sparkle. Everyone thinks Yukiteru Amano is nothing special. He's known as somewhat of the class nerd, whereas I am the quiet girl, but the prettiest one in the entire class. I am the one the boy's chase after, he is the one girls run from. It's funny that the dove falls for the spider.

On the piece of paper I scrawl my name and then I write his and I propose marriage. So incredibly innocent, he doesn't even for a second think of the connotations behind my innocent smile (Babe, if only you knew how true those words were, we're going to be together, Yuki. You and I forever, my darling). He thinks nothing of the tilt of my head as I put my hands behind my back and grin. Instead he returns my smile and he tells me that, yes, we will get married, but when we are older. We're too young at the moment, after all. And I lock that promise away in my heart, and I hold onto it like the last light in this world, because it will become the only thing that keeps me sane and the only thing that drives me in this world.

Yuki will become everything.

Because I love him.

---

The day Yuki tells me we will get married is the day my life changes. I return home smiling, and I return home past my curfew. Walking inside is like entering a nightmare, mother is having one of her episodes and my blatant disrespect for her rules is enough to send her tearing down the hallways and charging into my body. She knocks me to the ground and drags me to the cage. I cry out, and I call out my dad's name, I plead and cry and sob, but he's not there. Of course he isn't. Mother never acts this way when he is home. Only when he is gone. So I'm chucked into the cage with my twin sister, a frail, thin thing. She has no muscle, no fat and nothing left of her. She died a long time ago. Mum never really noticed. I've never really noticed, she still sits in that cage with me when I go in there, though. She still stares at me, I can still hear her wails. I can still hear her begging me to save her.

It was that day I decided enough was enough. That I decided outside of this family there was someone out there who was going to protect me. That Yuki was going to marry me and keep me safe and I didn't need my parents. Yuki was going to love me, he was going to keep me safe and protect me and I'd do the same for him. He was enough for me, he was all I needed, right?

(Darling Yuki, you'll forgive me for whatever I do next, right? Because you love me. Because I love you. And love is all we need.)

"Yuno, my darling, little Yuno, do you understand? I need you to understand, breaking the rules, you can't do that. You'll get punished for that." She says softly, her voice trailing from the kitchen. Mum was standing in the room opposite, the slap of the knife on wood ringing past her words.

"Mamma, please, I'm sorry, I won't do it again. I'm sorry mum." I sobbed, hands wrapped tight around the bars. "I'm scared, mum. Please let me out, I'll be a good girl. I'll try hard-"

"No! What did I ever do to deserve such an ungrateful daughter?" My mother was crying now, but the knife remained moving, steadily, as she continued to make dinner. "Why did we ever have you? Your nothing, your useless."

"Mum, please, I promise. I promise I'll try harder."

"No, you'll never be good enough. Just like your sister."

I don't know what makes me do it, or why I do it. I can hardly remember doing it. But the next thing I know, after mum has let me out we are in a tangled mass of limbs. And I'm clawing my way out and Im pushing and shoving and then there's a cry and she's trying to get away, but she's hitting me and I shove my feet into her chest and she is sent backwards. Her back slams into the cage and I scramble forwards, shaking hands fumbling over the lock as I slam the door closed and lock her inside. I knock father out that night, when he returns home, i put him in there with mother, but dad never wakes up. Mum screams at me, and I look at her and I smile.

"I'm sorry mamma, I'm trying to me better, I promise. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry. I'll try harder mum. I promise."

---

When the deals arrives, the letter in the mail I do not open it right away. Instead I walk back inside, through the cold, dark empty halls and to the furtherest room in the house. This room used to scare me, but it does not anymore. It used to be the room that I was tormented in, when mother grew wild and upset she'd rag me in here and lock me in a cage. She'd disappear for a day at a time, and then she'd return, telling me how naughty I had been. Telling me that this was the only way I could be punished to ensure that I came out better, to ensure that I became the daughter she dreamt of. My twin sister was nothing to mother, she wasn't as pretty, she wasn't as smart, she wasn't as good. So she wallowed in that cage for her entire life.

Sliding the door open I move to the side and I sit down. I slide the letters that are for my parents over to them. They do not move. They're dead. Mum died a few days ago.

"Mum I've got a letter, is it okay if I open it?" I asked, eyes never once leaving the white package before me. There's something big and bulky in there. "Thanks mum, I'll be sure to tell you what it says." Smiling she finally looks up, as though the unspoken consent had been a real thing. She tears the envelope open to reveal a small book, a diary. On the top, scrawled in golden letter's it said: "Yuno Gasai's love diary".

Love Diary.

There was a letter attached, and so she read it.

"The letter says: This diary is for the purpose of recording everything about your lover. Keep careful note of it all, because it'll come in handy. You've been selected for a little game. Twelve other people within district 3 have been given a diary similar to yours, in this game you must fight one another until there is one soul victor. The winner will receive money of an unquestionable amount and more power then they could ever dream of. Therefore, to claim victory you must simply kill the eleven other players and collect their diaries. You have been selected because of your personality and nature and the notion that you will, for all purposes, be an entertaining competitor for the prize.

Good luck, Yuno Gasai."

I didn't accept what was written on the letter at first. But then when I looked down at the diary and I flip to the first page I did. I knew what I wanted to write, I knew what I wanted to say. And the name I wanted to say was already there.

Yukiteru Amano.

It was fate.

True love, what the stories would have said.

Trust me, Yuki. I'll save you. I'll protect you.

I'll kill for you.

I love you.

The chains of causality
controlling space and time begin to get tangled