I N N O C E N C E (Shu Sakamaki)

Chapter 26

(A/N: Okay, where I live, coronavirus hasn't touched us and schools and exams are still open. I couldn't update due to the pile up of work and graded assessments. Sorry ;-; However, I'm back to regular updates. This is a chapter which I managed to write out in the span of a month or two with all my free time, so I'm sorry for it being too short.)

It was early night when Manami started to pack her bags after a long day of no sleep. The dark print was evident under her eyes as they let droop.

"Ayato is right," she slapped both sides of her cheeks, as she stared at herself in the mirror, "I really do look like Sadako."

Two weeks had passed since Yui's body was invaded by Cordelia. Manami wasn't there to witness the scene, but according to Ayato, they managed to solve the problem with ease. Quite frankly, she didn't care, since currently she was in a state of 'nil.' A state in which she wasn't thinking or feeling anything.

"You have been locked up in your room for too long, little dame."

"What?" Manami turned around, only to be met with the fedora-wearing triplet. "Knock."

"Why should I? It's my house~." He said, laying down on the bed.

"Still." Manami sighed, as she walked over to stand in front of him. "Excuse me but is there something you need?"

Silence.

"Does there have to be a reason why I come to visit my favorite human girl?"

"Yes." Manami said with her usual monotone. "Both you and the brothers only ever come to drink blood when Yui's isn't around, or have some useless disinteresting talk which wastes my time. I can assume that it's the latter."

"How?"

Manami sniffed the air lightly.

"It has been months." Manami looked at him with a side of her eye. "I think I would have learned the smell of blood by now."

"Really~?" Laito chuckled, as his face lit up with a cheeky smile. "How does little bitch's blood smell to you, then?"

"Like blood." Manami responded instantly. "I don't particularly love the smell, but living here doesn't give me the choice, now does it?"

Laito furrowed his eyebrows at the sound of that word. Love... It was one that he was too familiar with. A magic word that courses people's hearts to hysterics at the hearing of it. It was a word which all humans loved to hear, and Laito knew that.

He loved and both despised the word, as it had gave him both good and bad. It took away the one thing he 'loved' the most, and yet, brought him pleasure that would bandage the wound.

Love is simple; love is lust.

He sat up, his expression changing from playful, to the one much more serious. "Little dame, what does 'I love you' mean?"

"That's random." Manami blinked a couple of times, as she fixated her gaze to the corner of the room. "The question has many broad answers, but they are the ones I could guess from what I saw or heard."

"To what I've seen, love comes with different emotions. Perhaps, it is strong admiration you feel for the other person, taking the form of sexual desires or physical attraction. There probably is some deeper connection between the two parties."

Her gaze shifted to outside the window, as the moonlight made her squint a slight.

"Some would even say it is a feeling of belonging when you are with the right person." She sighed, grabbing her sleeping gown and folding it into threes. "I wouldn't know."