The world spun and churned inside, a myriad of greys and blacks that struck pain into her heart.

The one thing she knew for sure was that her heart had cracked from the force behind those words.

Her one fear that her siblings would begin to reject her had started to come true, and there was no strength inside of her to keep those cracks from beginning to appear.

When does a dream become a nightmare?

And when does a creature become a monster?

The answers to these two questions is just the same, yet different at the same time.

And like every repitition of the questions barreling through her head, she felt like she just came to the same answer in the end, becoming truer and truer as time pressed on.

A dream becomes a nightmare when it's no longer pleasant for the dreamer to experience, as does a creature to a monster.

But Monsters only exist when someone elects to misunderstand them.

And Monsters are only created by Humans.

One elects to misunderstand, and therefore reject the very knowledge they once had of someone, forcing their image in their mind to take another.

It was just a matter of time before everyone else rejected her, now.

She was sure of it.

It felt like the waters of her inner world were about to drown her.

And it felt like this time, she couldn't keep her head above the surface anymore.

Somewhere in the few minutes after Yuta had made his view clear to Amaya in such an explosive manner, Reiko had released her embrace and stepped aside.

Reiko had pointed out that Amaya was bleeding, disappearing for just long enough to bring the medical kit they had stored in the bathroom, and she insisted that Amaya let her handle the dressing of the cut. Yukariko's belongings that Yuta had gone through were gathered up the very second that Amaya realized they were still scattered throughout Yuta's room and locked away in her room again.

After that, everything was a blur to Amaya.

Her grasp of time had been completely knocked off balance, and she could barely remember the motions she went through in the hours that followed.

Reiko was always close nearby, always in the same room as Amaya, following her into the next if it wasn't the bathroom or restroom, and always smiling kindly the whole time.

Nothing else resided within her head - Nothing else came to her conscious notice.

Just the repetitions of Yuta's words to her before a livid Karma had dragged him away.

Eventually Reiko had gotten a bit too tired again, and after making her something to eat, Amaya had ushered her into her room to rest.

Everything was silent, and there was nothing that she could do.

She couldn't bring herself to do watch anything to pass the time, and she didn't really have any hobbies.

So she just cleaned again out of a need to occupy her hands.

She needed to stay awake in case Yuta came back and needed dinner.

Though it had been hours since Karma had dragged him away.

The clock read 10.49pm.

It was still bright outside when Karma had dragged Yuta away, still within school hours.

When were they going to come back ...?

But then a repetition bounced through her head, almost as if answering the question for her.

Don't ever talk to me again, you monster!

The reflexive clutching of her hands at those shouted words had the few knives she was washing clink together dangerously - If she had been in the process of wiping the blades, she'd likely have cut herself.

She knew it had only been a matter of time, but it still jabbed pain into her, as if shards of glass were being shoved through her chest with every repetition.

And yet her expression didn't show it - she kept an emotionless front as she ambled around the apartment, turning lights off as she finished cleaning those respective rooms until only the light at the front door and incandescent lamp next to the couch was left on.

She didn't stop to wonder why Yuta had gotten hold of the box of her mothers items, let alone why he'd even gone through her closet to find it.

In reality, it didn't matter.

Because it wouldn't make a difference one way or the other just knowing the answers to those two points.

It wouldn't change the fact that he'd reacted the way he did.

It wouldn't make her feel any better to know either.

The sounds of a door opening came to Amaya's notice somewhere after she'd finished every ounce of cleaning there was in the apartment and just sat down on the couch, her gaze motionless upon the pages of a novel she recalled to have been given at some point, though she couldn't recall who had given it to her.

She didn't look up in response to the sounds, nor did she really put much thought to it.

The door had been locked minus the chain - Reiko had made sure of that before she went to bed.

One set of footsteps ... and they weren't Yuta's at all.

She felt her heart crack a little more at that thought.

She remained motionless despite the insistent ways her body seemed to want to take her to her room, keeping her gaze affixed upon the book in her hands.

An indescribable fear had suddenly overcome her, and it was so hard for her to just stay there with that emotionless front in place.

Did he have a change of heart towards her, like Yuta had?

Was she going to hear those words come out of his mouth, too?

It would break her heart if he even so much as looked at her the same way that her brother had.

'Amaya.' She heard him speak, and her hands clenched ever so slightly around the book in response.

He'd just called her by her complete name ... It hurt to hear him refer to her like that.

She didn't like the sounds of this already.

However she turned her head to look over her shoulder at him, her emotionless front still in place to keep her trembling hidden away inside.

He was standing there much like there wasn't a lot wrong, though his posture seemed rather tense, his hands buried in the pockets of his pants as he seemed to watch her closely, scrutinizing her appearances, perhaps?

And yet he didn't look at her with the same disgust that Yuta had, much like she'd begun to fear. In fact, there was nothing of the sort there. The same unreadable look was there, edged with the tiniest glint of something else she couldn't put her finger on.

However she did know that it made her feel guilty to see it there, and she didn't know why.

'Where's Yuta?' She asked quietly, her fingers curling tighter around the edges of her book.

He seemed to watch her for a few seconds, before he let out a breath and glanced away.

There seemed to be something he wanted to say, but for some reason he was avoiding it.

'Elsewhere.' He eventually answered, sparing a glance at Amaya once again. 'And no, I didn't do anything to him.'

She didn't understand why he felt a need to affirm such a thing - the thought that he would have had never crossed her mind.

'I know.' She spoke in response, her voice a soft against the uncomfortable silence of the apartment. 'I just want to know where he is.'

For some reason, Karma seemed to click his tongue in frustration, though it didn't really show across his face.

'He's staying elsewhere for a few days.' He eventually spoke, looking down at Amaya again. 'Ritsu-chan's keeping an eye on him.'

Amaya was silent at first, though she turned her head back to her book sitting in her lap.

'Okay ...' She responded.

She guessed that was okay ... Yuta didn't want to be anywhere near her right now anyway, so that was probably for the best.

She acknowledged it, even though it hurt to even consider it.

'That's it?' She heard him ask, an unreadable tone in his voice as he stepped around the couch to stand in front of her. 'You're not going to push the question?'

'Not really.' She responded, keeping her gaze averted.

'Why?' He demanded of her.

For some strange reason, he actually sounded a little mad.

However, she answered regardless.

'Because its not going to help anything if I do or don't.' She spoke, staring down at the characters of her book as she heard him seem to fidget on his feet. 'He isn't in trouble and has somewhere safe to stay. That's all that matters, right?'

And she guessed that he'd probably be happier if he was somewhere she didn't know anything about.

But then she didn't have much of a chance to really dwell on that - Whether by frustration or something else, she had no way of knowing.

All of a sudden, the book in her grip had been ripped out of her hold and tossed across the room without a care for its condition, and a sudden force shoved her backwards into the back of the couch hard enough to inflict pain.

Startled and at a loss of what was going on, Amaya found herself pinned in place by hands to her shoulders, and Karma's form looming over her own.

'O-ow-- that hurts!' She managed to squeak faintly, though she received no release in response.

The grip of her shoulders really did hurt, and the unreadable look across his face actually scared her.

She wanted to run away, to escape this, but she couldn't.

She was boxed in, as if he already knew she wanted to flee.

He wasn't going to give her an opportunity.

'How many times do I have to tell you, Amaya? You can't tell a convincing lie, no matter how much you try' He spoke, his tone conveying nothing to her. 'So why don't you try being honest for a change?'

She managed to keep her emotionless front in check as well as her silence - She didn't trust herself to speak with the bubbling panic beginning to rise inside of her.

The grip he had of her shoulders tightened a little at her lack of response, though his expression showed nothing.

'You're not going to say anything, are you?' He questioned her, frustration beginning to creep across his face as the seconds ticked by. 'That's fine, your reaction told me enough.'

In spite of herself, she couldn't help the confusion that had begun to tug at her from those words.

'...Reaction to what?' She questioned, inwardly thankful that she'd managed to keep her tone even.

The look across his face seemed to darken at her question, though he didn't say anything at first.

Almost like a hesitation, though she couldn't be sure.

'That would be to the word Monster.'

She couldn't stop the flinch that had overcome her, nor could she ignore the pain his words had jostled back into life.

In fact, it hurt so much more to hear him say that.

The fear began to rise up, lapping at the back of her mind.

'That's really all it boils down to with you, isn't it Amaya?' He questioned harshly, agitation clear in his tone of voice.

She could feel the scarce grip she had on her emotionless front finally begin to slip.

'Every time you refuse to say anything, its not because you just don't want to, is it?' He questioned, leaning down to look her in the eye.

She didn't speak, didn't respond.

And it appeared to only make him angry.

'The truth is, you're just scared that if you let someone see anything that you keep hidden away, they're just going to react like Yuta did! Aren't you?!'

The words were a resounding slap across the face, snapping the last of her grip on any form of composure.

And the only thing that had come to greet her at the stripping of her composure was desolation, so strong that she felt like it was suffocating her.

It was pulling her under the surface, and there was nothing inside of her to try and resist it.

'Dealing with you like this is infuriating.' He muttered, his tone heavy with exasperation as Amaya refused to look up at him. 'Its even worse now that I've figured out why you always act like this.'

'...I'm sorry...' She whispered.

A breath seemed to escape Karma after a few moments, and despite his apparent anger, he gently lifted his hands from her shoulders.

She kept her gaze averted through her despondence, though it didn't seem to matter one way or the other.

She heard him shift slightly over her, and a hand lifted up to grab her by the chin, forcing her to turn her head towards him in spite of herself.

She caught just a glimpse of his favorite innocent smile right as he grabbed her by the sides of the face.

And then he pinched hard and tugged at her face to inflict pain, causing her to frantically reach up and try to free herself with a pained squeak.

'I've only heard you say that twice, and I'm already sick of hearing it!' He seethed as he pinched harder, causing the distraught girl to whimper. 'Every time I look at you, there's something wrong, like right now.'

'L-let go--' She tried to get out, but his pinching just got more painful - Enough to bring tears to well up in the corners of her eyes. 'Please--!'

'If you really wanted me to stop, you would have already managed to pull my hands away, Amaya!' He snapped.

The force behind his words had caused her to flinch and her eyes to screw shut.

Though the tiniest hints of a sigh escaped him, and after a few seconds his grip loosened.

'What infuriates me more than anything else about you is how anyone can just say or do whatever they want to you, and you won't retaliate at all. I can torture you as much as I want, and you'll let me do it.' The redhead spoke, his grip of her face starting to tremble just the tiniest. 'The only time you'll ever get angry or react is on someone elses behalf. It's like you don't even care about yourself, and I hate it.'

The trembling of his hands was still there.

'You're not a monster, Amay...' He spoke softly, a breath escaping him after a few seconds. 'You know that, right? There's no such thing.'

She wanted to respond, to tell him that he was mistaken, but she couldn't bring herself to.

Her eyes opened to fall upon her lap, her teeth closed over the inside of her lip as she felt the oceans begin to brim and escape despite her attempts to keep it inside.

'Why do you have to make everything so difficult?' He spoke as he shifted over her, his grip of her face shifting to lift her face up towards his. 'Its like you're doing it on purpose just to annoy me.'

Amaya didn't have an opportunity to look away or even respond - She found herself frozen instead as she actually looked up at him.

She didn't understand what was going on as she found his face alarmingly close to hers, her breath hitching as she felt him rest his forehead against hers.

She didn't know what was going on, or even why it felt like she was starting to panic.

Her heart was racing inside her chest so fast it actually hurt.

However there was no opportunity for her mind to catch up with the situation at hand.

Because at that very second, a deafening crash echoed throughout the whole apartment, causing them both to jump in fright.

'NYUWAAAAAAH!!! NOOOOOOOO!' A uncomfortably familiar voice shrieked out, and then all of a sudden they were both grabbed by a form that was not supposed to be there at all.

Before Amaya knew it the lights in the room were turned on and both she and Karma were on opposite couches with a very flustered looking Koro-sensei huffing and wheezing in the middle of the room.

'S-Sensei does not approve!' Koro-sensei gasped out, his normal yellow face a marginal shade paler as he managed to straighten up on his leg-tentacles. 'Far too close! Much too close!'

Amaya was far too stunned to comprehend all too much, however Karma was very quick to cast Koro-sensei one of his forcively innocent smiles.

She didn't understand what was even going on anymore, though thankfully the tears had stopped none the less.

'It's not polite to spy on people, Koro-sensei.' Karma informed the flustered octopus, a rather dangerous air overcoming him as Amaya stared wordlessly. 'Your spying is starting to get out of hand.'

'Nyuuwah!' Koro-sensei yelped as he suddenly had to dodge an Anti-Sensei knife to the face by the agitated boy.

And then at least part of the situation sunk in on Amaya and she began to panic.

Koro-sensei was here standing in Amaya's apartment completely without disguise, and he'd arrived with a sudden crash and a shrieking exclamation.

And Reiko was a light sleeper when she wasn't well.

'Oh no! Sensei, you can't be here!' Amaya suddenly yelped out, leaping to her feet frantically to try and push the octopus towards the door.

'Nyuu?' Koro-sensei seemed rather confused, however Karma had fallen motionless in his attempts at stabbing Koro-sensei again.

And it all made sense when Amaya heard a sleepy voice speak out.

'Karma-san, why were you trying to attack the Creepy Octopus?' Reiko mumbled out from the door of the hallway, causing Amaya to flinch in response.

'C-CREEPY?!' Koro-sensei shrieked out in horror, much to a snickering Karma's amusement. 'WHYYYYY!?'

However all Amaya could do was hang her head in defeat, inwardly cursing Koro-sensei as she began to make her way to her sister.

It looked like it was going to be another sleepless night.

And she had nobody else but Koro-sensei to thank for this mess he'd just put her in.

Karasuma was going to kill her if he ever found out about this.

---=[Authors Notes]=---

Hey guys~! /(//^ <> ^//)\ As promised, I didn't leave you guys hanging for a whole week waiting for the next part after that cliffhanger. And well, things are going haywire now, huh? Well I hope you all enjoyed the chapter even though there was all the emotional overtones in the whole chapter and it was a shorter than normal chapter, but I felt if it was any longer, it would just be drawn out way too much.

Thank you all so much for all the votes and the comments, and oh my god where did all of you gorgeous people who've just followed me come from?! Omg I fell so loved right now you have n-- *Phone literally chimes another follower notification* Wait-- What?! Another one?! xD Oh my god xD

Chapter Dedication! This time around it is fooooorrrrr Hime-dere-chan! Thank you so much for the covers! You are so awesome! And for everyone else, yesh, the cover has changed, and Hime-dere made it for me! Isn't it awesome!?! *Flail-flail* Oh mah gawd I am soooooo happy!

Anyways, here's translation notes for this chapter :D

Kurukuru - Translates roughly as Round and Round, which is written as クルクル in Japanese.

<3 Luv ya guys so much! And feel free to addeth me on Line, guys. Same name as on here :D

<3 Loki-Roki out~!