Obsession (Ayano x Budo)

Chapter 17

It was an ordinary two-story house, separated from its neighbors with a 1-meter grey slab of a wall acting as a border. It was also lucky to have a tiny green patch of grass at the back, no bushes or flowers to decorate it. Ayano had scouted the area the night before and had almost felt disappointed by the simplicity of the house. Budo really was just an ordinary boy.

Now she walked casually around the perimeter of the house until she reached the garden behind it. She scanned the back of the house, eyes raking it for a possible means of entry, when she saw the open window in the lower story. It was unbarred as well as a someway decent size that would allow her to squeeze through it. She nodded absent-mindlessly. That made the job easier. Now she wouldn't have to pick the door. What a fool Budo is.

Ayano opened the window fully and put her fingers around the sharp rim of the opened window. After testing her weight for a second, she holstered herself up strongly in a solid pull, feeling the metal rim cut into her fingers. She was pushed through the opening head-first, and then lifted her legs up and over the side. It was a somewhat tight-squeeze, but she got through, finding herself in the sitting area.

She'd been in the house before, but hadn't had enough time to fully inspect it. Now she saw that even the inside was as normal and bland as the outside, with its cream walls and typical wooden floorboards. Ayano jumped down and landed on a sky blue carpet lining the floor with a soft, muffled thud. The living room was small, tidy but not clean. It smelled dry and dusty inside. Bookshelves, coffee tables with magazines and half-read books. Nothing of importance here.

Ayano progressed into the hallways. No pictures on the wall she noted. There were three dark brown doors in the hallway, two on the length and one at the very end. She felt her excitement pick up as she opened one of three doors...

The bathroom. Ayano sighed and closed it again, but not before calmly observing the unexpected neatness of the counters and tiled floor. His family didn't leave a mess, did they?

Now she was sure that the other door must be his room. She stepped forward, gripped the bedroom handle tightly and turned. The door creaked slightly as she pushed it open. Suddenly nervous again, she leaned forward and peered inside.

He'd left the lights on. Distantly, she felt herself become annoyed with him. It was a small, neat and unsurprisingly normal room: The bed wasn't made, the sheets crumpled and, at Ayano's touch, still warm. His desk was cluttered with stationary, textbooks and loose pages, but it was an organized mess. She sifted through some mathematical pages, checked the disappointingly mundane desk drawers, and spun past the pages of his homework diary left open. No doodles or paragraphs other than due date reminders.

Nothing under the bed or the mattress. She walked to the cupboards, which were shut. Carefully, she swung them open and peered inside. Also, clothes folded a little messily, organized into underwear, tops, jeans, shorts, deodorants and stuff... She checked the pockets of jackets hanging on the railing and lifted folded pairs of jeans and shirts to look in between them.

She shut it again, feeling herself grow restless. Surely he would have something that would tell her who he liked - Ayano knew she certainly did.

There was still the bedside table. Ayano marched across the room. She'd left the most obvious for last - it was the closest to the bed, and thus the most secure. She tentatively pulled open a drawer.

There was only a napkin and a lunchbo- Her body stilled so fast it was as if she had been zapped. Wait... was this...

Yes, it was her lunchbox, even a day later not yet opened, and through the plastic lid she could see that the food was still uneaten. What was he doing with it by leaving it here? Surely he would just thrown the contents into the rubbish? She looked confusedly to the next item. In her hand, she brought up a blood-stained cloth. What was he doing with this? Perhaps he'd hurt himself?

This is curious, but it tells me nothing. With a resigned sigh, Ayano put the napkin neatly back into the drawer and closed it. She stared at the table without seeing it as she thought. Now what? The only think left to do would to be to pick through the room finely, which may take half an hour-

"You can get the food from the fridge, I'll get the gift."

They're back. Chills ran up her spine at the realization. I should have heard them coming in. I would have had more time to react.

Ayano didn't give herself any more time to scold herself. She moved silently and smoothly like liquid to the cupboard, opened it and then climbed in between the few clothes hanging on the rail, her feet finding space to stand in between the clumps of shoes.

She closed the cupboard door as quietly and quickly as she could, her heart beating as fast as a bird's. In the darkness of the small, cramped space, her ears listened intently. Don't come into the room.

"No, you grab the snacks, let me get it. I want to check out your room anyway." Ayano could make out Taro's voice, and her pulse quickened.

Footsteps were getting louder and she tried to shrink as much as she could into the back, but there simply wasn't anymore room. The steps stopped right outside the cupboard. "You said it was in your cupboard?"

Sh*t.

Helplessly, she watched as the cupboard doors swung open.
She could hardly breathe.

Taro's face came into view, and immediately his eyes shot to hers. She was paralyzed, the only exception her heart which was racing wildly beneath her ribs. They both stared at each other without a word, Taro in complete surprise and Ayano like a deer caught in the headlights, for a very long moment.

"You got Osana's gift? It should be on the top shelf," they both heard Budo call.

The spell broke. Taro's eyes moved away from Ayano's. He reached for something on the highest shelf, as casually as if she wasn't there. A second later he brought his hand back down, now holding a box of chocolates. Without another glance in her direction, he shut the cupboard doors softly, leaving Ayano alone in the darkness with her heart beating two hundred miles an hour.

"Yes. I do. I assume you have the food?" Ayano heard Taro's calm voice say just outside. Relief flooded her. Thank you, Senpai, for not telling him.

"Yeah, let's go. Sorry again I forgot the get-well package."

She heard them walk away, and this time, heard the front door slam shut, and then the incomprehensible muffled sound of their voices in the front yard. She had to wait ten minutes after that before she could even move her legs out of the cupboard.

Out of the cupboard she went, straight back to the living room, and then back out the window. Not looking back, she walked shakily back home. Mission aborted.