Megumi’s POV:

The threat didn’t register in my mind, and I was still feeling giddy and exalted, so of course I laughed. 

Then blindfold was clapped over my eyes, and two strong hands gripped my arms and began dragging me against the sidewalk. Slowly, the situation sunk into my thick skull.

I immediately began kicking and screaming. Someone kicked my stomach, and my struggles immediately halted.

“Who are you?! What are you doing?!” I weakly squeaked.

“Not so confident now, is she?” a young female voice mocked me.

“,” another girl growled.

My heart thumped loudly against my chest. Who were these girls? Why did they seem to hate me?

“W-Who are you?!”

“You’ll find out in a second,” the first voice said, still laced with sarcasm and malice.

Apparently, she was being literal, because a second later we entered a building - my bottom painfully bumped against the threshold - and the blindfold was torn off of my face. I immediately recognized the place as the school gym.

I was faced by three unmistakable people: Megurine Luka, the queen bee of our school, said to be kind and modest; Masuda Lily, Luka’s loud-mouthed and freakishly athletic best friend; and Nekomura Iroha, the cat-obsessed girl in my grade. They were all good-looking and friendly, and were known for their insistence on using first names only. I’d never talked to them before.

My mouth fell open. “What’s going on?”

“We’d like to ask you the same thing,” Luka snarled. I recognized her as the one who had called me a .

“I’m not sure -”

“We want to know what you’re suddenly doing hanging around our guys!”

“W-Who -”

Iroha cut in, “Otonashi Ichiro, Tachibana Shusei, and Mizuiro Takami. The captains of the basketball, kendo, and soccer teams, respectively. They belong to us. Stay away from them!”

“Who I spend time with is my business!” I shot back. I jumped up, suddenly feeling very angry. “Besides, they’re my friends!”

“Then, if you insist.” Luka leaned over me, her eyes glinting in the faint moonlight that shone through the giant windows in the gym. “We thought we’d just give you a warning, but you’re pushing us.”

“They’ve never even said anything about girlfriends!” I added, glaring back at her. I was scared, but my anger overruled that fear, for now.

“That’s because they don’t know yet,” Iroha admitted, coloring slightly. “But soon enough -”

“Shut up, Iroha!” Lily snapped. The younger girl shrank back.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” I yelled. “You can’t just kidnap someone and threaten them for such a stupid reason! If you like them so much, just confess and leave me out of it!”

“But we can’t do that,” Luka said, sighing as if I were a burdensome toddler. “At least, not while you’re around.”

“Why? Too scared?”

“You -” Iroha lunged forward, her tiny face murderous.

Lily slapped her in the face. “Stop acting before you think,” she spat. Again, Iroha flinched and turned away.

“I ...” Luka seemed vaguely confused for a moment. Then she shook her head and retorted, “All I know is that you want all their attention to yourself.” 

“Why would I? I already like someone else! I’m dating Nakajima-kun! Do you live under rocks?”

“We wouldn’t waste our memory space on someone like you,” Lily snarled.

“But you’re willing to waste time and energy on kidnapping me and threatening me? You could’ve easily been confessing right now!”

“But we don’t ...” An odd expression crossed Luka’s face. “When did I start liking Otonashi-kun?”

“Hello, earth to Luka!” Lily exclaimed, glaring at her friend. “You’ve always liked him! Just like I’ve always liked Tachibana-kun and Iroha’s always liked ...” She trailed off, her eyebrows furrowing in concentration. “Now that I think about it ...”

“This is weird ...” Iroha joined in, apparently no longer afraid of Lily’s outbursts. “I can’t seem to remember.”  

The three of them, so menacing a few minutes earlier, were now huddled together, obviously lost and bewildered.

I relaxed. Maybe I was hallucinating. I heaved a sigh of relief.

That was a mistake.

Their heads automatically snapped upwards, and I saw that the brief confusion had passed. “She may be a man-stealing , but she’s right about one thing,” Luke slowly said.

“Yep,” Lily nodded her agreement. “This is a waste of time and energy.”

Iroha concluded, “Let’s finish it now.”

I backed away, fear now overruling anger. 

“S-Stay away!”

“We won’t kill you,” Luka said, her voice soft and calm. “We’ll just torture you a little. How about this?”

So quickly that I didn’t see her move, she kicked me in the stomach. The first kick, delivered when they were dragging me, had been bad; this one was ten times worse. I fell to the ground, coughing.

Iroha sprung onto my back. Her body, though light, weighed me down painfully. Her hands clawed at my scalp, and she pulled on my hair so that my head was forced up.

Lily slapped my face and giggled when tears sprung to my eyes, “Aww, she’s crying!”

“I have an idea,” Luka laughed. “How about this?”

She pointed her chin at my head. At first, I didn’t understand. Then Iroha’s hands began to move.

“NO!” I screamed, trying to shake her off. “Please don’t! Please!”

This time, real tears began to fall. I was terrified.

My headphones fell to the ground as I continued to wildly flail around.

“Why do you like these things so much?” Luka scoffed, bending down to pick them up. Her words felt like bullets piercing my skull.

Suddenly, I was two years old again, wildly spinning around as whispers floated past.

“What’s wrong?” Mama asked.

“Ah ... nothing.”

Then I was three years old, flinching as voices called out to each other.

“Hey, look, this human is really jumpy!”

“Quiet!” I squealed, running into my room and slamming the door shut.

Four years old.

“Yume’s silly,” I laughed.

“Am not!” the high-pitched voice replied. “Gumi really is special! One day you’ll see ...”

Five years old.

I cowered in my room, wincing each time a distant human voice penetrated the walls around me.

“Yume ...” I sobbed.

“Right here,” she murmured. “I’m so sorry, Gumi. I have to go. They said that I’ve passed the test - or something like that. I don’t know what will happen next. I can’t control it. I’m so sorry, Gumi. I love you, really. The others will watch over you in my place.”

A chorus of gentle voices agreed with her. Ueki, Tori, Negai ... I loved them all, but the loss of my first friend was too much.

“I don’t care! Don’t leave!”

“I’m kissing your forehead now. Can you feel it?”

I couldn’t. But I nodded. “In here,” I whispered, pointing to my heart.

“Silly. It’s on your left side, not the right.”

I moved my hand.

“Bye, Gumi.”

I blew a kiss towards her fading voice, and then burst out into sobs. The others hummed an unfamiliar lullaby, and my tears slowly disappeared. But my heart still hurt.

Six years old.

“You can’t! I don’t want to lose another!” I whimpered. “First Yume and Tori and now Negai! This isn’t fair!”

“You’ve still got us,” Ueki tried to comfort me. “You’re not alone.”

“But my friends keep leaving, and there’s something you’re not telling me. Why can’t you tell me? Don’t lie! I can hear it!”

“I love you, Gumi,” Negai said, her voice breaking.

“Don’t!” I turned away, towards the drawing on my wall. “That’s what you all say, but you keep leaving. It’s not ... fair ...” I buried my head in my arms.

Then I took a deep breath and said, “Love you too. I hope you’re happy, wherever you go.”

A faint whisper in my ear: “Thank you, Gumi. One day, it will all become clear.”

Seven years old.

A knock sounded at the door. Mama came in, holding her notepad.

‘Package at door,’ she wrote. She handed me a pair of headphones.

“They won’t work,” I sighed, shaking my head.

‘Try.’

“Good luck!” Ushi encouraged me.

Wearily, I took the headphones and put them on my head. The noise disappeared.

My mouth fell open.

“It’s ... gone. Gone!” I laughed and fell against my bed, reveling in the silence. “All gone.”

I never looked back. I didn’t even say good-bye.

The moment I put on those headphones, I forgot all about Yume, Tori, Negai, Ueki, Ushi, and all the others. I didn’t want to remember.

In a sense, by pushing them out of my life, I betrayed them.

And now it was all coming back.

I lay on the ground, curled into a ball, as the girls’ shouted insults pummeled my mind.

“Please stop,” I whispered. My eyes widened in horror when my own words stabbed my temples, in addition to the other noise.

No. I could not be hurting myself.

“Please,” I whimpered. Again, the knife came.

Tears leaked out of my eyes as I squeezed them shut. It had grown stronger. While I’d hidden, it had strengthened.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered to the friends of my past. “I should’ve said good-bye.”

 “Look, girls,” Luka said, kicking me in the stomach. I in a shocked gasp. “She’s talking to herself now.” Her voice was an avalanche of arrows.

“Pathetic!” Lily triumphantly screamed. Her voice was the shrill scream of bullets.

“Cry harder!” cackled Iroha. Her voice was high-pitched and excited, a blasting cannon.

The rest became a blur, indistinct except for the throbbing, ever-present pain. I might’ve wanted to die.

I tried to forget about the pain by thinking of my family and friends. And Yuki. It didn’t work.

Yuki.

Yuki ... where was he to protect me now?

I need you.

---

They left sometime in the middle of the night, still threatening me. Luka stayed behind and said something about warnings and genies. I wasn’t sure. I was probably hallucinating.

Then I woke up in a cavern, Rin and Len’s cavern. The twins hovered over me, concern visible in their faces.

“Gumi,” they mouthed together.

“Suzuki-kun -”

“- is gone.”

“He said sorry -”

“- and told us -”

“- to look for you -”

“- and left.”

They spoke quickly, making it very hard for me to understand. But I comprehended enough. It all became clear.

“I need to leave,” I whispered, staggering to my feet and wincing as the words hit me. “Yuki.”

With that, I left. Then I remembered something.

Going back to them, I added, “Good-bye.”

Just in case.

---

Yuki’s POV:

“Where are you?” I muttered, pacing in front of the door. I’d turned into Gumi and pretended to return home, so that her parents and Kei-kun would go to sleep, but my own heart was still pounding. I groaned, lamenting the fact that I couldn’t make myself relax. 

The doorknob twisted slightly, paused, and then shifted again. I swiftly opened the door.

Gumi fell into my arms, breathing heavily and covered in scrapes and bruises and blood. I felt my heart fly out of my mouth.

“Wha -” I began. Then I noticed that her headphones were gone. My heart returned, filled with anger and fear.

What had happened to her?

I flew us up to her room, placing a soundproof barrier around us. As I gently laid her on her bed, her eyes fluttered open.

“Don’t strain yourself,” I whispered. She immediately clapped hands over her ears and shook her head.

“Does it hurt?” I slowly mouthed. She nodded.

It hurt. My words hurt. That shouldn’t have happened. I was a genie, and Listeners could only be hurt by human voices.

Unless ... had her ability truly grown so strong?

Trembling, I placed my hands over her ears. Then I concentrated.

Headphones appeared. Gumi heaved a sigh of relief, and then collapsed onto my chest. She weakly tapped me with her fingers.

“Yes?” I cautiously murmured.

“Baka. I called you. You weren’t there,” she sobbed, pushing away from me and curling into a ball. “Oh, Yuki. Yuki. I’ve been so stupid. You weren’t there.”

I couldn’t speak. She continued to hysterically rant, “And Ushi was there, I think. I forgot all about them. I take the headphones off in the shower, you know, and it should’ve hurt but it didn’t. They were protecting me, see? So it didn’t hurt. Why weren’t you there? Oh, I left without saying good-bye. I was horrible. Yuki ... Suzuki-kun - he and Kumo, I think, were making them say such things and do such things and ... Rin and Len looked so sad. We have to find him ... and make him laugh so pretty ...”

She suddenly stopped talking, and I realized that she’d fallen asleep. Slowly and methodically, I ran a hand over her body and healed her wounds.

Of course, I already knew what I’d do next. I’d find the person, or people, who had done this to Gumi, and I’d make them pay.

But for now, I’d wait for her to wake up. “I’m so sorry,” I murmured, kissing her forehead, which was tensed and wrinkled. “Next time, I’ll be there.” 

I think everything took a dark turn when I wrote this . . . o.O I'm not really sure what happened. This isn't considered "mature content", is it? 

XD To any readers: I hope you enjoyed!