Laughter echoed through the skies. Insane, maniacal laughter, along with cries of pain and mercy. Kurobara laughed at her victims as she kicked them to the ground, watching them beg and writhe in misery. She loved how alive she felt, the thrill it gave her that was close to something of ecstasy. A feeling unlike any other, and she loved every minute of it.

Recently, she had been feeling something off. Something that was making it hard for her to think, that she would lose track of time, and feel this strange sensation in her heart. She didn’t know what it was, but it hurt. So she would always go and find some weakling to torture to make it go away. Even so, she felt it come back later, and it seemed to return sooner and sooner as she kept repeating the process.

But now, she was thinking of nothing. Nothing but the ecstatic feeling of bending her opponents to her will and making them break, hearing their cries of pain was music to her ears. A sound she could easily get drunk on if she could, an addiction. As she was laughing, she didn’t notice someone coming from behind and grab her shoulder. Her laughing ceased and she turned to see her partner, clad in the same black-and-white stripe sweater and Gekioko uniform, Shirogiku.

Her excitement dulled down and faded as she felt the familiar, loathing pain come back to her slowly. “Shiro...giku?”

“You had enough?” she asked the girl as she stared with black, empty eyes. “You looked like you’ve tired yourself out. Let’s go.”

“I wasn’t.. finished…”

“You are. You know what happens when you go past your limit.”

Admittedly, Shirogiku was worried for her partner at times like these. She knows she’s been going on her own, beating up people for her own enjoyment. At first, she thought it was just Kurobara being herself, but she felt something was off in her behavior. She had seen what Kurobara could be like when she would completely lose it and go all out. It was a sight to be feared.

They arrived back at their regular spot in the school, somewhat of their base. Kurobara quietly sat as Shirogiku was pacing around the room. She was thinking back to when she and Kurobara had faced Sakura. Even after all they put her through, she was indeed a clever fighter, along with the help of her two self-proclaimed underlings.

“You know what that means, right?” she asked her partner. “It means there are still people who can catch us off guard. We need to up our game, get stronger…”

Kurobara wasn’t listening. Her mind was trailing off, but her eyes were fixated on the girl with white dyed in her hair. Mesmerized, she once again felt a tinge of pain. She hated that she was feeling this, and she wanted some way for it to stop. Since no one was around for her to torture, she thought of one other resort.

She got up, slowly walking towards the wall, an empty look in her eyes. She ignored Shirogiku’s calling and placed both hands against the wall. She then began pounding her head against the hard brick surface, disturbing her partner.

“Kurobara! Stop!” She grabbed the girl’s hair and made her stop. There was already a red spot on her forehead, not enough to leave a bruise, but still pretty bad. She saw Kurobara’s lifeless eyes staring at her and became worried. “Oi… what is wrong with you? Why the have you been acting like this recently?!”

“Shirogiku… don’t...”

“I need you to tell me what’s going on!”

“Stop!” She tried to push her away, but Shirogiku’s grip was strong. Like a cobra’s grip. She avoided her cold gaze, but could feel her dark orbs piercing into her. “Please… if you don’t stop.. I’ll..!”

“What..?”

Kurobara started to cry. She didn’t know why, but tears were falling down her eyes.

“I want it.. to just stop… This weird pain.. in my heart… I thought.. making other people suffer.. hearing their cries.. would make me forget… I thought hurting myself somewhere else.. would make it go away… but it doesn’t. It keeps coming back… I don’t know why..! But… it’s only when…”

“When?”

“Whenever… I’m around you, Shirogiku.”

“Eh..?”

“I just don’t understand why I feel like this… but it’s only with you… Why..?”

Shirogiku couldn’t believe what she was hearing. For so long, she had known Kurobara as someone who didn’t know what pain felt like. Only the excitement she felt by inflicting pain on others. Even herself, who was sadistic as she is, hated seeing the girl crying in front of her. It caused a pain in her heart, one she wasn’t going to get rid of the same way Kurobara did.

“Kurobara… are you.. in love with me?”

The girl looked up at Shirogiku’s eyes, seeing something she had never seen before, but couldn’t describe. “Eh?”

“I’ve heard it all before, that love is one of the most painful and most beautiful emotions one can feel.”

“All I feel is the pain…”

“Then, let’s change that.”

Shirogiku pushed her partner against the wall, their foreheads close to touching. Her face was so close, Kurobara could feel her heart pounding. Instead of the same pain she felt, there was a growing warmth in her chest as she saw Shirogiku grin. She lifted Kurobara’s chin and kissed her with gusto.

Kurobara could feel her heart pounding against her chest like a drum. Her body slowly heated up as Shirogiku continued her musings on her the latter, her hands tracing her body and touching, caressing her gently. She never felt her partner giving such a soft touch, it was making her melt, and her knees grew weak from the intensity of it all. This wasn’t the same thrill she felt when she tortured her opponents, this was pure ecstasy she was experiencing. And it was the best she had ever felt. She forgot the pain, all her worries and stress from her previous troubles.

The two finally parted for air. Kurobara’s breaths came uneven as she stared at Shirogiku, seeing she too was overwhelmed by the new sensation.

“How did that feel?” she asked her.

“It was.. incredible…” she breathed out. “That was the beautiful part you mentioned before, wasn’t it?”

“It didn’t hurt, right?”

Kurobara shook her head in response.

“Does that prove it then?”

“Yup. Shirogiku, I do love you.”

The girl gave Kurobara a grin. “More than torture?”

“More than anything,” she giggled in response. “You drive me insane.”