Thank you, Ryan...

The night unfolded peacefully, with a sky sprinkled with stars accompanying the soft glow of streetlights. The movement of cars on the streets was slow, a reflection of the comforting silence that enveloped the city.

Yuno walked beside Rika, feeling the night breeze caress her skin. The blueberry ice cream she held between her fingers added a childlike touch to her figure as she licked the sweet treat with a slightly distracted expression.

Rika, at her side, remained graceful, her eyes attentive to Yuno's every small gesture. She said nothing—and perhaps didn't need to. She perceived that Yuno wasn't the type to express her feelings easily. Therefore, instead of words, she chose to hold her hand, intertwining their fingers in a gesture of silent comfort.

The walk continued peacefully until they arrived home, where they were greeted with a warm smile by their mother. Maki was already asleep, after all, she would have early classes the next morning.

After a brief conversation, Yuno and Rika went upstairs. The hallway was bathed in a soft light, and the silence of the house seemed to amplify the thoughts swirling in Yuno's mind.

Just before opening her bedroom door, she hesitated. Her gaze flickered to Rika, and a slight blush crept onto her face.

"Rika..." Her voice was low, almost a whisper, but laden with something dense and indefinable.

Rika turned to her, her gentle eyes reflecting a serene affection.

"Rika Nee-san..." Yuno corrected herself, feeling her chest warm as she spoke those words.

Rika's smile widened, lively and welcoming. She put her hands behind her back, leaning her body forward slightly.

"Yes, Yuno-chan!"

Yuno looked away, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers. Her voice trembled slightly, almost as if she feared to say what was coming next.

"Thank you for staying with me today... Your presence was... very good..."

Rika closed her eyes and smiled tenderly.

"You can always count on me. We are sisters now, and it's not blood that defines that. I love you as my dear sister, Yuno. After all..." Her tone became softer, almost nostalgic. "You are also my savior."

Yuno blinked, surprised.

"S-Savior...?" Her mind spun. "I... saved Rika?"

She had never thought of it that way. She had always felt like the wanderer, the survivor, the one carrying the shadows of the past. But... Could she have been a ray of light for someone?

A small smile formed on her lips.

"So..." Yuno took a deep breath. "Tomorrow I want to tell you a little about my past. But don't complain about me afterwards, okay?"

Rika tilted her head, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"Mii~ You're younger than me, so your story shouldn't be thaaat long!"

Yuno pouted, crossing her arms.

"I still don't accept you treating me like the youngest..."

Rika chuckled softly before standing on tiptoes, trying to reach Yuno's head to pat her hair. Even so, Yuno had to bend down a little to make it easier.

"Sleep well, Yuno. Tomorrow we can watch that movie you wanted!"

The gesture was simple, but it warmed Yuno's heart in a way she couldn't describe. Rika's affectionate touch, the genuine tone of her voice...

"I never thought I could feel this kind of love..."

She couldn't resist. Before she knew it, she enveloped Rika in a tight hug.

"Thank you..." Her voice was choked with emotion.

Rika returned the hug without hesitation.

"Mii~"

And then, each went to her own room.

Yuno stood in front of the mirror for a few moments, observing her own reflection. Her fingers touched her hair, and a disturbing thought arose in her mind.

"Do I really deserve this life?"

Her eyes scanned the spacious room, decorated in soft shades of pink. Teddy bears adorned the furniture, and the fluffy bed looked inviting.

But it was more than just a room. It was a home.

Memories came in waves, flooding her mind.

She remembered her childhood with her mother, playing with dolls, the makeshift tents made of blankets. The cozy nights when she read fairy tales, immersed in magical worlds without worries.

Yuno's eyes began to sting, and tears flowed without her being able to stop them.

"I lived so happily here... Do I really deserve this?"

Then, as if her own mind wanted to punish her, memories of her past returned with the same intensity.

The cold.

The hunger.

The desperation for affection.

The unbearable weight of having killed her parents.

Yuno knelt in front of the mirror, trying to stifle her sobs.

"I wanted to be loved... And I am, now."

She squeezed her own chest, trying to suffocate the overwhelming tightness that took over her.

"Mom and Dad love me... They are my real parents. My little sister Maki, and..."

The image of Rika's smile emerged amidst the whirlwind of memories.

"Even you seem to love me as I am..."

But then, a treacherous thought infiltrated her mind.

Her body trembled.

"Yuuki... What about you? What feeling did you have for me?"

Fragments of memory overlapped. Yuuki's gaze when he looked at her. The hesitant way he spoke to her.

And, above all, the fear in his eyes.

Yuno's heart tightened in a way that almost suffocated her.

She covered her mouth, trying to silence the sobs that escaped.

"It was a... one-sided... feeling..."

The tears continued to fall, reflecting in the mirror as if they were a second version of herself—a version that could never escape the past.

As she sank into her own weeping, the memories struck her mercilessly. Like merciless specters, they clung to her mind, suffocating any rational thought. It was then that a voice echoed, hoarse, provocative, but laden with a feeling she no longer knew how to name.

"Pinkie..."

Her eyes widened. Her body froze. Her breathing became shaky, erratic, as her heart pounded painfully against her chest. She stared at her own reflection in the mirror, her face bathed in tears, her lips parted in an almost inaudible whisper.

"Is not fair... This is not fair..."

The words escaped her lips like a choked lament. Yuno swallowed hard, trying to find some logic in that confusion of feelings. Her voice trembled as she continued:

"He seems to have accepted the new life without any problems..."

She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes for a moment. But the memories wouldn't leave her. Not now. Not when the pain of the past still throbbed in her soul.

"He was... my turning point..."

Her thought wandered to that fateful day. That moment that destroyed her notion of identity.

The hot steam of the bath enveloped her body when it all happened. A sudden attack, an avalanche of memories hurled against her mind like a waking nightmare. A whole life overlapping another. An unbearable bombardment of memories, feelings, pains, and dreams that did not belong to her—and, at the same time, did.

The gentle, shy, and bright girl that Yuno was now found herself imprisoned within a furious storm, where the broken Yuno, the Yuno of the past, screamed, clamoring for control.

She couldn't bear it.

She screamed.

Her fingers slipped down the damp bathroom wall, her stomach churning in pure despair. The last memory of that old life was Ryan killing her, and now? Now there was more. There was the present. There was a new life that coiled around the old one like a lethal poison. What was real? What was a lie?

She didn't know.

It was then that the bathroom door was thrown open, and a pair of arms urgently enveloped her.

"Yuno, dear! What happened?!"

The warmth of that hug should have calmed her. But it didn't.

Her wild, terrified eyes met those of that woman, and her instinct was to fight, to struggle, to scream.

"WHO ARE YOU?!"

The despair in her voice was soul-cutting.

"What do you mean, who am I?! I'm your mother, Yuno!"

That phrase. So simple. So impossible.

The shock was like a slap. Her body stopped struggling. Tears still flowed, but now not from panic, but from something worse. Something deeper. More cruel.

"Mom?" Her voice was hesitant, almost a frightened whisper.

She didn't know what to believe.

"My mom...?" she repeated, her mind trying to find a point of balance.

One side of her consciousness screamed that yes, that was her mother. The woman who loved her. The woman who had taken care of her from the beginning. But the other side... The other side was a black hole of pain and loss.

You have no mother, Yuno.

And then, everything dissolved into silence.

Yuno stared at the mirror once more, her pale and confused features reflected back.

"I... took three days to understand what happened..." she murmured, her voice lost in the emptiness. "And it was only that fast because of my new family... At that moment, I told myself that... I was just having a waking dream."

She ran her hands through her long hair, as if trying to anchor herself in reality. But then, her expression hardened.

"Until that day..."

The day she found Ryan at school.

The day everything crumbled.

There, in that instant, she saw the naked truth.

She was Yuno Gasai.

And all she wanted was her one true love: Yukiteru Amano.

The images returned, and with them, the invisible scars. She hugged herself, pulling her knees against her chest, her mind reliving every detail of that encounter. Every exchanged look. Every silence laden with meaning.

And the agreement.

"Why did that idiot agree to help me kill him?" she murmured, her eyes burning with a mixture of frustration and confusion. "I..."

She hesitated. Just for a second.

"I wanted Yuuki back... But him? Why... why help me?"

She didn't know how to answer.

Time moved forward, and with it, her hatred, her pain, everything seemed to dissolve. Like a poison losing its lethality. Her parents, her sisters, a stable life... even her almost peaceful relationship with Ryan. Every moment in this new existence seemed like an attempt to erase what was.

Her chest tightened.

She picked up her cell phone, staring at the screen as if it were a window to another world. Her fingers slid to a familiar name. Her heart hammered in protest against what she was about to do.

"Damn it..." she murmured, pressing her lips together. "Ryan can still treat me better than Yuuki..."

She closed her eyes, trying to visualize Yuuki's face. Trying to feel that again. But, little by little, the image faded. And in its place, another emerged.

Ryan.

Yuno felt the blood rush to her face. She bit her lower lip, annoyed with herself. With a frustrated sigh, she opened his profile picture, enlarging the image.

"Idiot..." she grumbled.

Her eyes scanned his face, analyzing every detail with an attention that irritated her. Why was he so... so Ryan?!

She stared at her own reflection in the mirror, her hand unconsciously resting on her lips. Her gaze narrowed.

"And on top of that... that idiot stole my first kiss..."

The memory was instantaneous, bringing an involuntary blush to her cheeks. She huffed, closing her eyes to push away the feeling. But then...

The sound of a ringtone.

Her eyes widened. She looked at her cell phone screen, her heart stopping for an instant.

Incoming call.

From Ryan.

On the other side, Ryan walked calmly, returning from a conversation with Gojo and Geto. He was already on his way to his love nest with Riko when his cell phone vibrated in his pocket.

He blinked when he saw the name on the screen.

A mocking laugh escaped his lips before he answered.

"Yuno calling me at this hour?" His tone was laden with sarcasm and amusement. "Wow... this is definitely trouble..."

Ryan answered the call without haste, his voice full of irony and amusement.

"Heeeey, beautiful Pinkie!"

On the other end, he heard a small muffled squeal. A short, surprised sound.

Yuno only realized what she had done at that moment and, in a reflex, began to speak quickly, trying to maintain a tough tone, but failing miserably.

"I-I called by mistake!"

Ryan smirked, leaning back against the wall.

"By mistake, huh?" — his voice dripped with mischief — "Don't tell me you were looking at my picture and made the classic mistake of clicking 'call'?"

The half-second silence on the other end of the line gave everything away.

"OF COURSE NOT, IDIOT!" Yuno exploded, but soon took a deep breath, forcing her voice to calm down. "I..." She needed to think fast. "I want to ask you something."

Ryan raised an eyebrow, still amused.

"Ah, sure. You can ask me anything… Except what I'm doing tonight."

Yuno frowned. His mocking tone irritated her.

"What are you doing, Ryan Gosting?"

His laughter came effortlessly.

"Damn, you must be a very possessive girlfriend."

"Humph, that's none of your business." Yuno retorted, crossing her arms as if he could see her.

Ryan, on the other side, gestured in the air as he replied, as if shrugging.

"Same here. But then, was that all you wanted to ask?"

Her silence lasted a little longer this time.

"No..." Yuno murmured, gathering courage. Then, all at once, she blurted out, "Ryan, why are you helping me?"

Ryan blinked, surprised by the question. He was silent for a moment, letting the distant sound of night traffic fill the space. When he finally answered, his voice sounded lower, almost thoughtful.

"Well... I guess, in the end, I should never have won that game."

On the other side, Yuno's eyes widened.

"S-seriously? That's your reason?"

Ryan let out a short laugh through his nose.

"Well, that's not the only reason." His voice regained its carefree tone. "But, you know... It's not just a woman's heart that's hard to understand. We men are also quite mysterious, you know? So, my motivations will stay with me... Unless you know how to ask nicely, of course."

Yuno huffed, looking away, as if she wanted to kick him through the phone.

"Humph, I was an idiot thinking I'd have a fruitful conversation with you."

Ryan laughed.

"The pleasure was all mine."

"Idiot..."

"Is that all you know how to say?" He teased, with obvious sarcasm in his voice. "You're a very classic yandere, huh."

Yuno didn't answer.

Silence took over the call. But it wasn't an uncomfortable or tense silence. Just... a moment of pause.

Ryan could hear her breathing.

She could hear his.

And then, Yuno's voice came, soft, almost hesitant.

"Thank you, Ryan..."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're welcome... I guess?"

Yuno took a deep breath before murmuring:

"I'm going to sleep now..."

Ryan didn't hesitate. His voice, this time, was more serious, without any mockery.

"Have a good night, Pinkie... And if you want to talk... you can call me."

On the other side, Yuno felt a small tightness in her chest.

A feeling she didn't know how to name.

"You're creative with your nicknames..." She let out a short giggle. "Pinkie... What an idiot..."

She was silent for a moment, before ending with a low, almost affectionate voice.

"Good night, Ryan."

And she hung up.

Ryan stared at his cell phone for a few seconds.

What the heck had just happened?

He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a light sigh.

"Man... It's getting harder and harder to keep up with the things that are happening... Cute Yuno? That really caught me off guard."

Putting his cell phone away, he walked back down the hallway.

Arriving at the bedroom, he opened the door without ceremony.

"I'm back!"

Riko, still wrapped in the blanket, waited patiently for him. Her voice was low and slightly coy.

"You took so long..."

Ryan smirked, closing the door behind him.

"Yeah... People talk a lot, you know?"

Riko also smirked. Slowly, she lowered the blanket, revealing her naked skin in the dim light of the room.

Her eyes sparkled with expectation as she whispered:

"You know... I'm not really in the mood to talk. How about we continue where we left off?"

Ryan's smile widened. Throwing his shirt aside, he thought to himself:

"Oh, good life..."

_______________________

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