Changeling

Chapter 5: Beggin' for Thread

[A/N: The title of this chapter is the name of Reika-chan's theme song, and it's very fitting for her personality. The song also makes me think of Juuzou and his "Body Stitch".~ This chapter is dedicated to iLiVe-san for commenting every chapter.~]
{Hm? What's with that face, Reader-chan? That guy was harassing me, so he deserved what he got.~ Eh? Oh, I see! Haha~ You thought I killed him, right? I left him for dead, but I didn't kill him. I made him appreciate life more when I injured him so badly, so it's fine.~ Now, back to my story, Reader-chan.~}
I tilted my head sideways at Haise. I understood what he said, but I didn't get why he'd said it. It was strange.

"Um...Reika-san?" Haise said, trying to regain my attention. I blinked.

"What would happen if I agree to that?" I asked.

"You would be safer and not hunted down by CCG," Haise said.

"Okay. I'll do it," I complied. "But I never believed in such a thing as safe, so just know that's not why I'm agreeing to this. It's just an excuse to see Kio-oneechan and Juuzou-kun more often.~"

"Um...that's fine," Haise said, sweat-dropping. "How are you able to eat normal food, anyway?"

"I dunno. All I know about it is that it makes me different," I answered. "Also, I can only be sustained for so long, and its affects are very short term. It's like....a sheep trying to sustain itself on a wolf's diet. Sheep can't live very long on that, but it sustains them just enough that they don't die sooner.~"

"I see. Do you actually like the taste of food?" Haise ventured, being careful not to offend me somehow. I didn't see the need for him doing that; I was very hard to offend as long as the person knew what to avoid saying to me.

"Yup!~ I think maybe that's a good thing because I'm no good at faking those things. I tend to let my true emotions show," I yawned. "Sleepy..."

"Ah...You can sleep for a while. I'll wake you up later so you can meet a few people before being fully introduced to the CCG," Haise said, patting my head. I was too tired to care and I liked Haise enough, so I let it slide. Normally, people petting me or the like was a huge "no no".

"M'kay," I mumbled and curled up into a ball on the sofa. I fell asleep soon after.
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I hung by my legs in a tree, making a face and sticking my tongue out at Juuzou. He laughed and made a face back. It was just the two of us, having a childish form of fun. I loosened my legs from the tree and landed on my hands, then did a cartwheel in the same motion.

"Juuzou-kun, give me some pocky!~" I chimed.

"Nuh uh," Juuzou replied, shaking his head.

"I want pocky," I huffed, pouting. Juuzou laughed.

"Rei-chan's so funny when mad~," he said in a sing-song tone.

"Give me pocky!" I demanded childishly. He looked thoughtful for a moment, tilting his head sideways with a hand on his chin.

"Then come and get it~," he challenged.

"Gimme!~" I giggled, accepting the challenge and running over. I grabbed for the little box of pocky, but he kept it out of my reach and laughed. "Meanie!"

"You have to get it from me if you want it, Rei-chan~," he said. I chased him, but ended up loosing sight of him. I was now alone in an alley, and at a dead end. I pouted, thinking he had to be cheating. There was a sudden pressure at the back of my head and I blinked. Blood dripped down from above and I placed a hand to my head. Pulling it away to observe it, my hand was now covered in blood...my blood. I looked behind me to see Juuzou with a malicious grin, an odd-looking scythe in his hands, blood on the squared blade.