(Un) Fortunately the Yandere Isn't After me (Endings)

Bygones 3

The day of Yurisa's birthday party was here. Arata wasn't sure how he should prepare himself for it. The boy couldn't say he was used to attending these kind of things outside of the one they celebrated with Akiba just months ago. Even if he did have more experience, this was also a birthday for a young girl who was only just now reaching double digits in age.

Still, he was looking forward to coming over and giving her a bit of a congratulations for it. This was a major milestone for any young child her age. So hopefully the gift he brought her was going to be well liked.

So Arata got dressed in some casual clothes and headed out for Yuriko's house. It was a short trip as he had along with him the notebook all wrapped up in his arms. When he arrived, the boy knocked on the door where he was given a welcome look from the girl's mother who let him inside.

Upon entering the house, it seemed the party was already on in full swing. Of course, the energy of children could be felt even as he was walking up to the door with their playful screams and ruckus. Someone who was standing all by her lonesome was none other than Yuriko, who was waiting in the corner with nothing to do. She was standing, arms crossed, with that same pouty face he normally saw her with.

"I hope it's fine if I just leave my gift next to the others." He said to her as the boy walked up. "And it looks like little Yurisa's having tons of fun with her friends."

"It's a joy indeed." She didn't share in his enthusiasm about it. Mainly due to having been stuck like this with nothing to do. "How about the two of us sit over here." Yuriko directed him to the couch. This was a familiar feeling for the both of them. It was like they were babysitting the kids as usual. Though the decorations and location showed the different context for their situation.

"So everyone's here?" He started off the conversation. "I'm the last one to arrive."

"Judging from the invite list, I think there's one other kid missing." So that would mean this party was pretty much at its peak for now. It was entirely possible the missing child just couldn't make it to the party as well, so the two of them weren't expecting any new guests. "I'm... Well, Yurisa's glad you could make it."

"I hope the other kids don't think it's weird how close she is to someone nearly twice her age." And Arata hoped that no one thought it was weird or inappropriate he was close with a non-relative who was barely half his age. "I also hope she'll like my present."

"I know I gave you a hard time about it yesterday, but I'm sure she'll love it." If anything, even if she didn't care for the contents of the gift itself. She was certain the girl would love it just because it came from him. "To be honest, my sister's pretty easy to please."

"Either way, I'm glad she's happy. You know how that girl used to be like."

"It's my own fault about that anyway." She spoke out loud in an insulting manner. Though this time, it was directed at herself.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know I got sent away because of what I did to you." Sending someone to the hospital did look like crossing the line to any parent. "So she pretty much grew up without someone like me." And she was also doted more on my their parents because of fears of her turning out like her sister. It was a good thing they took care of their issues before Arata ever came into the picture. He had no idea how he'd even begin to work out family problems.

That said, it did explain why Yurisa was so fearful and shy of others. She might've gotten a little too coddled by her family to be able to break out of her shell. Though now one might not even know she used to be like that given the way she interacted with the rest of the children.

Speaking of other children, there was another knock on the door. It seemed the final invited guest had arrived. And it was one that both Arata and Yuriko might not have wanted to see. It was Ruo Ichinose, one of the boys from a different classroom from Yurisa's. That by itself wasn't an issue, but his older sister was.

Which was Rouza Ichinose. The same girl who used to run together with Yuriko during her delinquent years. This girl was not someone they particularly liked, and even she didn't like them either. However, the teens had little choice but to put their disdain for one another because of their younger siblings.

"Well, it's nice to see little Ruo's here." Yuriko's mom greeted her with little complaint. "Come inside, everyone's been waiting for you." Even though he was invited, and they were letting him in without any complaints. The boy stood behind his sister's legs, afraid to enter.

"Come on Ruo, you said you wanted to go." Rouza tried to get him to let go of her.

"I'm scared." He said quietly, not budging. "Please, can you stay with me?"

"Ahh, fine." She relented, going inside herself. This was enough to get the boy to finally enter as well. "Don't worry, I'll protect you if anything bad happens. But please try and play with the other kids." Ruo listened to her and slowly walked to the others. Meanwhile, as the older girl looked around, her eyes landed on the pair.

"Well, this just got awkward." He murmured over to her as they sat there. Given that there was nowhere else to go, Rouza approached them. This served to raise his blood pressure from the stress of having to deal with more conversations with this girl.

"Yo." She greeted them, which lead them to no other choice but to say something back.

"Hi." They both replied in unison. It was difficult to hear each other with all the screaming from the kids. They certainly were filled with energy. A lot more than their older counterparts who were dealing with things only they could related to.

"It was nice of you to stick around for your brother." Said Arata, trying to keep up any semblance of conversation.

"Not like I wanted to hang around here." She replied. Considering the way both her and Yuriko answered questions. It was no wonder they used to be friends at some point. "Listen, I don't really care for either of you, but I ain't going to cause trouble and make Ruo cry."

"I would hope not." Said Yuriko. They would definitely try and prevent ruining Yurisa's birthday. If it meant kicking anyone out, she would not hesitate to do so.

"Well, we don't have to be weird about this." He really wished that they could at least try and have a positive relationship. That was how he tried to handle things so far with everyone he came across during the past year and it had been working out. "What happened back then is the past, why don't we just move on from that?"

"I don't need to hear your feel-good attitude." If she wanted to keep the peace, then Rouza was doing a bad job of it when talking with him. "Why are you even here? I'm pretty sure you don't got any younger siblings."

"Well, Yurisa wanted to invite me." He answered. "And I babysit a lot of the kids here, so I'm sure they're all happy to see me here."

"Huh, pervert." Again, there was the insulting. No wonder Yuriko was the type of girl she was, even after turning over a new leaf away from the horrors of delinquency. Also, hwy did people keep thinking he was perverted for hanging out with a bunch of children?

"Since everyone's here." Yuriko's mom and dad showed up to talk to them. "We should get out the cake so we can being with opening presents."

"That's fine with me." Rouza was already walked towards the kitchen to get away from the other two. "Things were getting boring hanging out with those two." She didn't even care that she was talking to one of their parents when she trashed talked them.

"I can get the cake." Arata offered as he got up and followed them into the kitchen. There was a pretty basic birthday cake for a girl. He was pink, and decorated with some character from a magical girl anime. One that he wished he could say he never heard of, and totally didn't watch every episode as it came on TV. Surely, there had to be a line where his pride wouldn't do that...

Anyway, he lined alone ten candles around it, then lit them. It glowed even in the brightly lit room of the kitchen as Arata picked it up from the table. "Now, is everyone ready for some cake?" With the others leading the way, the boy walked into the living room holding the beautiful cake that glowed thanks to the candles.