Leave Me Alone

Outside the window, rain fell, painting the forest in a pitch-black undercoat — the favorite setting of a recluse, to listen to the wind and rain, to embrace oneself.

But Utoya did not like being alone.

In alley battles full of crisis, she wrestled with strangers like sworn enemies.

In trenches of radioactive acid rain, she fought frenzied, rotting cultists.

In singularities that could shred people apart, she battled aberrations beyond human comprehension.

In the city, she clashed with terrorists wielding supernatural powers…

Once, Utoya had fantasized — could the supernatural change human life?

Energy exhaustion, famine and drought, disease and pain… the supernatural offered humanity ways to overcome them.

But the cause of all these disasters was always human greed.

All the sacrifices only gave birth to a city ever more corrupt and insane, a law ever more depraved and chaotic, and a world situation ever more strained.

The doomsday clock struck louder, pressing down on any life that dared look up at the stars.

Only then did Utoya truly understand — the world was hell.

It would always be the most brutal who wore the crown, and even the power of the gods could not break those rules and chains.

In this hell, Utoya had tried to believe that solitude was nothing serious.

After all, humans were selfish, wicked, creatures who loved lies… but the truth was, she too loved lying, especially about this.

No one cared anymore about the truth of the radiation zones.

The organizations and forces hidden within them were deliberately forgotten.

The great powers stopped at nothing to seize supernatural strength.

Utoya only wanted to sink herself into the radiation zone, to stop thinking about everything rotten in the greater land, to return to the primal and beautiful order of the zone, until her body returned to nature.

That is, if she hadn’t met Elin — that adorable little cat…

Strong, kind, unyielding — she was a flower of the morning sun, radiating contempt for ugliness, able to dispel darkness in anyone’s heart, filling it instead with warmth and kindness.

And when Utoya saw her broken state, her heart fell completely into that firm, unyielding tenderness.

If she could receive such tenderness, then even facing the most ruined, void-like world, Utoya would still find the courage to endure.

All the more so, since miraculously, Elin liked her gender.

She was the perfect angel…

And as a hunter, Utoya never waited passively.

Compared with other women, she had no merits.

A scarred face.

A body reeking of blood for too long.

She couldn’t cook.

She had no social skills.

No romantic experience to make Elin laugh.

Though she earned plenty, she spent little time at home.

She could only talk about mutants and the military.

No girl would want to listen to her babble enthusiastically about how to dissect a mutant.

Even if such an angel stayed with her, it would only be out of pity.

So Utoya chose possession.

Yes, it was selfish and wicked.

But Utoya believed it was the only way.

To keep Elin from ever touching better people.

To keep her from forgetting.

To burn every inch of her soul into Elin’s flesh and bone.

Only then would she truly belong to her.

…Brushed teeth, ate pineapple, clipped nails, showered.

Utoya sat quietly on the bed, waiting for Elin to return.

But her mood grew more and more restless.

When Elin said she would blackmail Leighton, Utoya already felt uneasy.

More than once, she thought of locking Elin away.

She knew what sort of pleasures that shameless principal indulged in.

And she knew even better the horror of the forces behind him.

It was Elin’s choice, but Utoya could not respect it.

She was an angel — why did she care so much about money?

Utoya hadn’t pressed her.

Money was nice — who didn’t like it?

Elin’s frankness about it was almost cute.

Besides, Elin was definitely not the type to do anything for money.

But this… Utoya truly could not understand, nor accept.

She could not lose Elin.

Like a blind person who had once seen light, she could never again accept darkness.

In a haze, she almost saw Elin’s figure — overlapping shadows in the house:

“The new clothes suit you, Utoya. I have good taste, don’t I? … Hey, don’t tempt me like it’s nothing!”

“I’ll cook whatever you want… Stop! Don’t say eat me, I’m seriously hungry, not joking!”

“Ah, so the hunter lady makes that kind of face during horror movies? How cute…”

She smiled, gently caressing her face, her bright violet eyes piercing through every curse of emptiness:

“Smile, that’s when the hunter lady is cutest…”

As long as Elin was here, this shabby room was paradise, Eden, utopia.

No — not “as if.”

From outside came heavy footsteps.

Utoya felt like she was the little cat, her body jolting upright nervously, looking toward the door with expectant eyes.

Back already?

But why were the steps so heavy?!

Utoya sprang up from the bed, her heart in her throat.

Expectation and dread clashed in her chest, almost suffocating.

She stumbled to the door, fingers trembling as they gripped the icy knob.

The biting wind, laden with the stench of rain, swept in — along with cold reality.

As though a hammer smashed apart every warm, bright picture in Utoya’s mind, the imagined sunny smile vanished.

Leaning against the doorframe was a battered girl.

Elin’s coat was torn in many places, covered in dark, indistinguishable stains — blood or mud, no telling which.

Her soaked white hair clung messily to her pale cheeks.

A few strands stuck to the torn corner of her lips, traces of blood faintly visible.

Fresh bruises marked her face and abdomen.

A shallow gash on her temple, though treated, was still swollen and raw.

But what froze Utoya’s heart was her eyes—

Those violet eyes, usually bright and sly, were now dim, lifeless, sunken with exhaustion and pain, as though her soul had been stripped away.

…

“…I’m back. Forgot my umbrella.”

“Is there hot water? I want a shower.”

Elin’s voice was hoarse and unsteady.

Utoya felt her heart stop.

Fear, rage, unease — a flood of warped emotions rushed in, replacing thought and reason, twisting into desire that devoured her soul.

…

“Damn it… how many times have I said it! Don’t do this! Don’t throw yourself into danger… why won’t you listen?!”

Her hand shot out, not to support, but to seize Elin’s icy wrist with terrifying strength.

The grip was so strong Elin cried out in pain, as though her bones would shatter.

“W-what are you doing… it hurts…”

Elin instinctively tried to step back, to push Utoya away, but it was useless.

“Now you know pain? Seems this beating wasn’t enough to leave a lasting mark, little cat… Must I give you something harsher, unforgettable for life, to make you understand?! Fine… very well…”

Utoya ground her teeth.

Her amber-gold pupils froze in the dim light, drained of all shine — then, like gold cast into a furnace, they flared up with a storm of chaotic emotion.

“You must… carve this pain into your body…”

Utoya’s face drew close, so near Elin could see the raging, near-uncontrollable storm in her eyes, so near she could feel her erratic breath on her skin.

Her other hand darted toward the cabinet beside her, fast as lightning, without the slightest hesitation…