How My Life Was Ruined

013: My Property

"Is that...true?"

A voice rang in my head like a drop of water falling into a clear, silent pond. She asked that question to me in a gentle yet worried tone.

Maybe she hadn't put that much thought into it. Maybe she just vocalized what she had in mind without much deliberation. But what she said resonated in me. It calmed me. That question of hers was what I had wanted someone, anyone to say to me. It wasn't my friends that I trusted, it wasn't my teachers nor was it my parents that asked that question to me. It was her. That is why she is special to me. Yes, just because of that single question.

I slowly opened my eyes. My eyelids felt heavy. I blinked a few times and adjusted my eyes to the dark. I could make out the dark ceiling clearly now.

Pushing my body up with my right hand, I was now seated upright on my bed with my legs folded underneath.

"Fufu." I covered my face with my palm. "It was a dream, huh?" What a nice dream. It was very rare for me to not have a nightmare. I was feeling refreshed. It had been a long time since I last dreamt of her. I was feeling happy and was in a good mood.

I grabbed my phone from the table and it showed that the time was 10 pm. It had been just about one hour since I went to sleep.

I was now wide awake and I was sure I won't be able to go back to sleep immediately. But even then I laid down and covered myself with the blanket. Maybe if I were to fall asleep again, I will dream about her? That feeling made me want to go back to sleep as soon as possible.

But fate had some other plans in store for me.

Bam!

I heard a sound. It was coming from my door. It wasn't a knock. It was as if someone had just kicked at my door. Is someone out there? At this time in night? Maybe it was just a cat or dog? But pets aren't allowed here so it is out of the question. Then, what? Or rather, who?

A certain feeling of suspicion grew in me. So I got off the bed. The warmth of the blanket left me immediately and I was assaulted by intense cold.

I cautiously made my way to the entrance and gently pressed my ears against the door to make out as much sound as possible. There was no sound. It was dead silent. For a moment I thought it was just my imagination. That was when I heard a small shriek.

It added to my suspicions. The shriek wasn't completed. It was cut off unnaturally. As if someone had forced their mouth shut, whoever it was, forcibly.

I slowly turned the knob of my door and stepped outside. The cold was even more apparent here. The cold wind was unbearable.

I then saw it.

There were two silhouettes. Even in this dark, I could see one was a male and another was female.

One possibility immediately occurred to me. It wouldn't be strange for the girl to be Ito Yua. I thought that she was going to indulge in her deeds. She hadn't been involved in such activities as of late. But that didn't mean that she had stopped doing those things completely.

The door of the room at the end of the hall opened slowly and the light inside the room was on. Maybe the boy had been careless or it was a stroke of luck. But because of the light, I could clearly see their faces.

And as I had guessed the girl was Ito Yua. But the circumstances were different from what I had concluded.

The boy had his mouth over her mouth. Ito was flailing her hands, struggling desperately to free herself. At that moment, her eyes met mine.

Those eyes, which were usually emotionless, were asking for help. Those helpless eyes. It was just like how her eyes looked back when I had come across her in that abandoned area. I couldn't resist those vulnerable eyes.

I immediately ran up to the room. Just as the boy was about to close the door, I placed my hand on the small gap, forced open the room, and swiftly closed the door shut after entering myself.

"W-What?!" The boy was clearly shocked as he hadn't expected this development. I pushed him away. He landed on the floor on his butt. I grabbed Ito and pulled her towards me.

She was about to let out a loud voice so I immediately put my hand over her mouth and whispered into her ear. "If you scream right now it will wake everyone up. You don't want that happening, right?"

I could see that she understood what I said through her eyes. I slowly removed my hand from her mouth. She took a few deep breaths.

"You calm now?"

"Y-Yes." Her voice was unexpectedly low. It was quivering.

"You go back to your room," I ordered her.

She looked at the boy on the floor and then at me. She was about to say no when I ordered her in a much harsher tone, "Get out of the room. Immediately."

She flinched. She reluctantly walked out of the room. After she stepped out, I immediately closed the door.

Now then.

He was now standing on his two feet, glaring at me. "What the hell do you think you are doing?!"

"Keep it low, senpai. You might wake the others up." I replied. That sure riled him up. He was the same guy that had transferred to this school together with me. Not exactly together, but we just happened to enroll at the same time.

"Who the hell you suppose you are? Huh?" His eyes were bloodshot.

"You were about to do something bad. Shouldn't you be thankful instead that I intervened at the right time?" I tried to reason with him.

"Something bad? Hahaha!" He laughed as if my response was comical. "You and everyone know what sort of woman she is. That was nothing bad. It is what she usually does."

"Yes, that's right. It was usually she who initiated contact. But this time it was you who initiated. And not to mention she was against it. No matter what her character is if she were to lodge a complaint that you assaulted her then do you think you can escape punishment?"

He hesitated to answer. It was because he understood that he would be punished. Good thing he hadn't lost his cool immediately.

"It's good that you understand. Now, please abstain from repeating this mistake. I won't be able to save you every single time after all. Well then, good night senpai."

I turned around and reached for the knob. But was stopped dead in the tracks by his next words, "Hah! You just want that girl for yourself, don't you?"

"What? What did you just say, senpai?" I turned back to face him trying to be as calm as possible.

He had a smug look on his face as he spoke, "Everyone knows how beautiful she is. I mean, I fell for her as well." His face turned serious then. "But what you should understand is that you shouldn't monopolize her. She is a common property of every boy here. I get your feeling of having her all for yourself. I get it all too well! But! You should know that it would incur the wrath of all the boys here if you try to keep her all for yourself."

Pathetic. Disgusting. Does he even realize what he said just now?

If I were to point out how flawed and disgusting his views were, he would definitely twist the meaning of my words and throw another revolting response. What happened just now was a good example. I was just trying to warn him about the worse possibilities but he spectacularly misinterpreted my words as me trying to monopolize Ito. That was completely wrong. That would never ever happen. What the hell made him think so?

I was frustrated and angry. I wanted to lash at him. I wanted to beat him and the other boys who thought her of as mere 'property' to a pulp. I was barely managing to suppress those involuntary urges.

Since straight words won't do it for him, I decided to approach him from another angle.

"I see. You are completely right. I want to keep her all for myself. I want to monopolize her. I have the right over her. After all, she is my property!" I declared.

"Don't joke around, you bastard! You-"

I grabbed his collar and pushed him against the wall with a good bit of force behind it. He let out a gasp and his eyes widened in shock and fear of my action.

I peered at his eyes from up close. I truly like those eyes. Those eyes trembling with fear. I spoke in a cold voice, "Ito Yua is my property. She belongs to me. I will do whatever I want with her. Every nook, every corner, every curve on her body, every aspect of her belongs to me. If any of you so much as dares to touch or dirty my property I will have you all pay a hefty price. And you know I can very well do that. Right?!"

His face scrunched up. Tears and other liquids started gushing out from his face. How disgusting! Just like his personality.

But I don't have the right to judge other people's personalities when I am aware of how much more twisted my own personality is compared to others like him. He was much better.

I was starting to feel disgusted with myself so I released my grip on him. On all fours, he backed away.

I gazed at him with my cold eyes and delivered the final line, "I hope you understood my point. Well then, good night, senpai."

I reached for the knob again and stopped dead in my tracks again. But it wasn't because of him this time.

It was because just as I was about to grab the knob, I heard footsteps running away from the door in a hurry. It was probably Ito.

I failed to notice but she must have been listening to it all. From the beginning. Till the end. I should have been careful. No point crying over spilled milk now.

When I stepped outside his room, a cold breeze assaulted me again.

I was wide awake. And after what happened just now, I won't be able to get back to sleep anytime soon.

With various thoughts running wild inside my head, I headed for the rooftop.