Chem Lab

Chapter Eleven: Blood Bath

Everyone was in array of panic, screaming and struggling to move quickly in the water. In the ruckus, Yumiyo fell backwards, almost landing on her back in the water, which would have electrocuted her...

...if Raou didn't catch her in time, that is.

"Ah!" Yumiyo cried out.

"Oh my, are you injured?" He worriedly checked her over.

"N-no... I-I'm alright. Thank you."

"No problem at all!" He looked up, gritting his teeth before barking out in a commanding voice, "Everyone! Cease your actions at once!"

Everyone paused and turned to see Yumiyo, being held up by Raou, in tears due to the scare she had. They immediately checked on her.

"Yumi!" Kutsumi helped Yumiyo stand up, keeping her steady.

"Are you ok?" Kochi typed into her translator.

"I... I just wanna go home. Where my only worry was if someone would help me down the stairs, not worry if I was gonna be electrocuted! I want to live! I... want to be able to sing and dance and play games again! I..."

Her voice quieted down to a whisper. "I just wanna go home. I want to live."

Everyone went silent. The girl in question was trembling, in fear. She had tears collected in her eyes, ready to fall at anytime.

She was absolutely terrified and with good reason.

Toshika stepped up and soothingly rubbed Yumiyo's head, trying to calm her down. "Would you like to come with me today? We could go play chess if you want. Or anything at all."

"I just want to go back to bed..."

"It's ok. We can play some other time."

"C'mon Yumiyo. I'll take you to the room after eating something ok?"

"O...ok." Being so exhausted from the scare, she clung to Masane's side, and walked together to the cafeteria.

Masane seated Yumiyo in a chair and prepared to make an old favorite dish of her brother's, tomato soup. It never failed to cheer him up when he was sad.

She chopped up the ingredients and mashed them together to blend into a soup. As she put the pot of soup over an open flame, she thought about her brother and the last time he ate this dish with a smile.

"Big Sis!"

In her room, Masane heard her brother shout for her. She got up from her desk after putting a stopper in her vial she was working on.

"Someone call for me?"

All of a sudden, a smaller body barreled into her, knocking her over on her back. She wrapped an arm around her brother as they fell. She lay there for a minute, disoriented, until she felt her brother's body shaking with sobs.

"Yosh? What's wrong, bubba?"

"Why doesn't dad love me?"

Masane went stiff and forced herself to seem nonchalant as she spoke. "What happened today?"

"Everyone made a family tree and I made mine with you, me and mom. A-and someone asked where dad was and I-I said I didn't have one. They were laughing and calling me a freak!"

He looked up at her. "Am I a freak sis?"

Masane slowly sat up, rubbing her brother's back. "You know, families are all different."