The rain had finally stopped, leaving Sainan Town slick and shimmering under the streetlights.
Yami landed silently on the flat concrete roof of an office building overlooking the park. Her black dress fluttered in the damp wind as she straightened up, her golden hair settling around her like a protective cloak.
She didn't move immediately. She stood there, wrapping her arms around herself, not because of the chill, but to hold onto something intangible. The warmth of the Yuuki household still clung to her, the taste of Mikan's stew, the sound of Lala's laughter, the way everyone had looked at her across the table. It was a foreign, dangerous warmth that made her chest ache in a way no wound ever had.
"Target... is inconsistent." she whispered to the empty night. "The data... is corrupted."
Bzzt. Crackle.
The air in front of her distorted. A green grid of light snapped into existence, coalescing into a hovering holographic screen.
The face of Lacospo filled the projection. The frog-like alien was sitting in his command chair, his slimy green skin glistening under the bridge lights of his ship. His wide, bulbous eyes narrowed as they focused on her.
"Report, Golden Darkness!" Lacospo barked, his voice tinny and distorted by the transmission. "My sensors indicate you left the target's dwelling alive. Did you fail? Or are you simply incompetent?"
Yami stared at the projection. Her red eyes, usually void of emotion, narrowed slightly. In the past, she would have simply stated her progress or remained silent. But tonight, the insult stung. It grated against the memory of Rito's kindness.
"The target remains active." Yami stated flatly.
"WHAT?!" Lacospo shrieked, slamming a webbed fist onto his console. The camera shook. "You had him alone! You were inside his house! Why is his head not detached from his body?!"
"I am conducting further observation." Yami lied, though her voice lacked its usual mechanical conviction. She shifted her weight, her hand brushing the book Rito had given her, which was tucked into her sash. "The target's defenses are... complex. There are anomalies in his behaviour that require analysis before his termination."
"Analysis?!" Lacospo spat, a glob of spittle hitting his screen. "He's a high school boy! He trips over his own feet! There is nothing to analyze! He is a beast who needs to be put down before he corrupts the Princess!"
"That is incorrect." Yami interrupted. Her voice was sharp, cutting through his rant like one of her blades.
Lacospo froze, his mouth hanging open. "Excuse me? Did an assassin just speak back to its contractor?"
"Your intelligence was flawed." Yami said, stepping closer to the hologram. Her hair began to float around her, responding to her agitation. "You described a beast. A villain who enslaves women against their will. The target is... gentle. He provides for his family. He protects those around him. An attack now would be tactically unsound and... morally questionable."
"Morally?!" Lacospo laughed, a wet, ugly, gurgling sound. "Since when does the Golden Darkness care about morals? You're a weapon! You don't have a conscience! The only thing you ever had were contracts!"
"I am a weapon, that is true." Yami agreed, her eyes flashing. "But I choose my targets. I will not kill him based on lies."
She reached for her wrist communicator to cut the link.
"If you hang up." Lacospo hissed, his voice dropping to a menacing gurgle, "I will fire."
Yami paused, her finger hovering over the button. "Fire?"
"I'm parked in low orbit, you defective doll." Lacospo sneered, leaning into the camera until his eye filled the screen. "My ship's particle cannons are locked on the coordinates you just left. The Yuuki household."
Yami's blood ran cold. The image of Mikan smiling as she served dessert, of Lala laughing, of the warm living room... it all flashed before her eyes, replaced by a smoking crater.
"You wouldn't." Yami whispered.
"Try me!" Lacospo screamed, his patience snapping. "I hired you to do a job! If you won't kill the target, I'll kill him myself! And I'll take out his little sister and those princesses too! I don't care about collateral damage! I'll wipe that whole block off the map!"
"Contract terms..." Yami started, her voice shaking with a rage she hadn't felt in years. "Civilian casualties are—"
"The contract is void if you don't act NOW!" Lacospo shouted. "Go back there! Sever his head! Or I turn that house into ash! You have ten minutes!"
The hologram cut out, leaving Yami alone in the darkness.
She stood on the roof, her hair trembling. The tips began to sharpen, transforming into jagged, blades that scrapped against the concrete. She was trapped. If she attacked Lacospo, he might fire in panic. If she killed Rito, she would destroy the only warmth she had known in years.
She was a weapon. Weapons didn't have choices. Weapons didn't have friends.
Or did they?
"I..." Yami choked out, her hand reaching for her hair, torn between duty and her heart.
"Hey! Frog-face!"
A voice rang out from the stairwell door behind her.
Yami spun around, her blades raising instinctively.
Standing in the doorway, panting slightly from running up six flights of stairs, was Yuuki Rito. He wasn't wearing his school uniform. He was in the casual clothes he'd worn at dinner, his hair messy from the wind. He wasn't smiling. His amber eyes were hard, burning with a fierce, protective anger she had never seen directed at anyone but an enemy.
"Yuuki Rito...?" Yami whispered, her guard dropping for a fraction of a second. "Why are you here?"
Rito stepped onto the roof, ignoring the sharp blades of hair pointed in his general direction. He walked right past her, toward the spot where the hologram had been.
"I followed you." Rito said, his breathing heavy. "I... I had a bad feeling. My gut told me something was wrong."
It was the truth. His future knowledge had told him about the possibility of Lacospo's treachery, given his actions in the canon, but the urge to run after her, to make sure she was okay, had been purely his own.
"You should not be here." Yami said, stepping back, putting distance between them. "I am... I am dangerous. You heard him. I have to kill you."
"Yeah, I heard him." Rito said, turning to face her. "He's a jerk. And a coward."
"That still doesn't change the contract." Yami argued, though her voice wavered. "He just threatened your home, your sister and the other girls living there. If I do not eliminate you, he will destroy everything."
"Let him try." Rito said.
He walked toward her. Yami flinched. Her hair reacted to her distress, the blades growing longer, sharper, humming with lethal energy.
"Stay back!" she warned. "I am a weapon! I exist to destroy! If you come closer, I will—"
"You won't." Rito interrupted calmly.
He stopped just out of reach of her hair. He looked at her, really looked at her. He saw the trembling in her shoulders. He saw the fear in her eyes. Not fear of him, but fear of herself. Fear of what she might do.
"Lacospo called you a tool." Rito said, his voice soft but carrying in the quiet night air. "He called you a defective doll."
Yami looked down. "He is correct. I was created to kill. That is my function."
"Wrong." Rito said.
He took another step.
"Stop!" Yami cried, a blade slashing the air between them as a warning. "I am the Project Eve! I am Golden Darkness! I am not a girl!"
"You're Yami-chan." Rito corrected her, ignoring the blade inches from his nose. "You like taiyaki. You like cats. You read manga in alleyways because you're lonely. And tonight... you ate dinner with us. You laughed. You helped Mikan clean up."
He took another step, closing the distance. The blade of hair was now pressed against his chest, the sharp tip pricking his shirt.
"Weapons don't do that." Rito whispered. "Girls do."
Yami stared at him. Her red eyes were wide, shimmering with unshed tears. The blade against his chest trembled. She could push it forward. One inch, and it would pierce his heart. One inch, and the contract would be fulfilled. The house would be safe.
But she couldn't.
Her darkness recoiled from the warmth radiating from him.
"Why?" she whispered, her voice breaking. "Why do you not fear me?"
Rito reached up. He didn't grab the blade. He reached past it. He placed his hand on her cheek.
"Because I believe you." Rito said.
The touch was electric. Rito's honest feelings flowed through his fingertips, acceptance, kindness, and a stubborn refusal to let her be alone.
Yami's concentration shattered.
The blade pressed against his chest dissolved. It turned into soft, silky hair that cascaded down his front. The other blades around her melted away, leaving her standing there, just a girl in a black dress, crying on a rooftop.
"Yuuki Rito..."
"It's okay." Rito said, pulling her into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her small frame, holding her tight. "You don't have to listen to him. Your actions doesn't belong to him."
For the first time in her life, Yami didn't pull away. She buried her face in his chest, clutching his shirt, and let out a sob she had been holding back since she was born.
"Watch out!"
Rito's instinct screamed. He spun them around, shielding Yami with his own body.
ZAP.
A laser blast from a drone hovering above scorched the concrete right where Yami had been standing.
"Touching scene!" Lacospo's voice boomed from the drone's speaker. "But if the weapon won't fire, I'll just have to scrap it!"
Rito looked up at the drone, his eyes narrowing. He didn't let go of Yami.
"You're going to regret that." Rito said.
*****
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