"What's the point in living if I'm already dead?!?!" I screamed at myself in my head.

I knew no one would speak back to me.

Or at least, I thought so.

"Stop screaming unless you really want to die." I heard a voice say to me.

And that was the day I met Lucy.

...

I opened my eyes and sat up with a yawn.

It seems I fell asleep...

I blew the hair out of my face and looked down at my hands.

Yona... Yusa.

Can I really keep up with this charade?

+-+-+-+

The woman walked down the tile hallways in brand new Louis Vuitton heels that made a clicking noise every time they hit the floor.

Her name is Mirai Asakara.

Also known by her nickname Nightshade that everyone in the office had given her.

She didn't care about nicknames though.

She didn't care about much in general actually.

Except the diclonius.

Especially the diclonius.

She swiped her ID card for clearance and was then granted access to the director's office.

The director put down the files in his hands and smiled widely when he saw Mirai.

"So, have you found Lucy yet? " the director said.

Mirai's face showed no emotion as she said, "No."

"What about that other one that escaped... Number thirty eight, I think?"

"We have sightings of her in several places. " Mirai said.

The director smiled.

"Good. " he said.

"Do we exterminate the target sir? "

The director stood from his chair.

"No. Not yet. She is our trump card after all."

"Trump card?"

"Yes, if my gut is right and it always is... Number thirty eight will lead us straight to Lucy. "

"Is there any evidence of that, sir? " Mirai said.

"Those two bitches thought they were so fucking smart. I heard every conversation that went on between them. "

"They spoke and you heard? " Mirai questioned.

The director pulled out a bottle of vodka and a small handgun from his desk and then handed them to Mirai, who took them.

"Remember our most important rule, Mirai? " he said and leaned closer towards her.

"We keep each others secrets and-"

He kissed her roughly then threw her back making her somewhat lose her balance.

"We don't question what go's on in this room. " he said coldly.

Mirai straightened her composure and looked straight into the directors black eyes with blank ones.

"Understood, sir. " she said and began to walk away.

"Oh, and Mirai? "

She turned around.

"Yes? "

"You were ten years old weren't you? When it happened? " the director said.

Mirai dropped the bottle of vodka onto the floor and it shattered into many sharp pieces across the ground.

"Sir, didn't we agree to keep secrets about our personal affairs to ourselves? " Mirai said.

"We did... but still. It's quite an intresting tale. Ten years old, blood everywhere-"

But before the director could finish his sentence, Mirai had already left the room.

Another thing Mirai cared about was secrets.

Secrets were everything to her.
Without secrets she wouldn't be alive, she wouldn't be successful, she wouldn't be... a chesspiece.

Mirai knew what to do though.

How to live with the secrets.

She looked down at the gun in her hand and spun it around.

Kill the ones you've told. That way, nobody will know.

+-+-+-+-+

I threw the ball at the hoop and it bounced off the rim - for the sixty third time.

I kicked a rock across the basketball court and sat down on the bench beside Shinchi.

"Why can't I do it? " I wondered aloud.

Shinchi put his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't beat yourself up over it. It's just a game. " he said.

It's not just a game.

It's a chance to show that I actually have talent at something.

"Maybe basketball just isn't your thing. "

I sighed.

I guess so...

"What do I do, Shinchi? " I said.

"What do you mean? "

"I don't know what to do with my life. "

"That's normal. " Shinchi said.

"I'm stuck. " I said.

"Maybe, you just need time. To think. Don't pressure yourself. That seems to be a big habit of yours, Yusa. "

I smiled.

"You're right." I said.

"Oh, I forgot to ask - why did you decide to let me stay with you, Shinchi?"

He froze a little then sighed.

"When I was five years old my mother left me and my sister alone at home for work like usual. Except, unlike usual, she didn't come back home. We found out later that she had abandoned us so she could be with her new boyfriend who hated kids. Me and my sister were both afraid of orphanages and we had never known our dad so we lived on our own until I was about thirteen. We were both naive. If we weren't, we would've gone to the orphanage. If it weren't for Alice, we probably wouldn't be alive today. "

"Alice? "

"Our adoptive mom. She just found us one day underneath a bridge one day and said come with me. She didn't care about if we were dirty or anything like that. She let us stay, feed us, clothed us, adopted us, loved us. I promised myself if I ever found someone who had no place left to go to, I'd let them stay with me. " he said.

"But what if you opened your doors out to a bad person? " I asked.

"I wouldn't. "

"But how would you know-"

"Eyes. " Shinchi said.

"Huh? "

"Eyes can say a lot about a person. I know the difference between a leech and someone in need of help because of eyes. "

Eyes...

"What did you see when you looked in mine? " I asked.

"Someone with much pain, more guilt, and many secrets. " Shinchi said.

My mouth dropped open in response.

H-He's a psychic...

"I'm not a psychic if that's what you're thinking. "

Eh?

"Like I said, It's all in the eyes. Eyes don't lie." he said.

Suddenly I heard a werid noise from Shinchi's pocket and saw him pull out a phone and answer it.

"Hey!... Yeah.... Uh-huh... Don't get mad at me!... I'll be right there.... Uh-huh... Bye. " he said and hung up.

"Who was that? " I asked.

"My sister. She's back home. "