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Later, I decide I’m going to surprise Alya and pick her up from the art campus.
Partly because I haven’t seen her enough this week. The place is just as insufferable as ever, filled with annoying bitches. I move past them all and cut across toward the side path near one of the courtyard corners.
Then I stop.
Alya is there.
Kissing a man.
My brain completely short-circuits before recovering with one very clear objective: murder. My first thought is Kento. The image slams into me, and my pulse rockets into my throat, every muscle in my body locking as I mentally calculate how difficult it’d be to dispose of a yakuza heir. Then I actually look at the guy.
Not Kento.
Some other idiot.
I clear my throat very loudly.
They spring apart like they’ve been electrocuted. Before he can even fully turn around, my fist closes around the front of his shirt, and I yank him toward me.
“How do you want to die?” I ask.
He goes white, and Alya grabs my arm. “Ilya!”
Her fingers tighten, and it makes me loosen my grip, but I don’t let go completely.
I glare at the guy. “Who the fuck is this lowlife?”
He opens his mouth, but Alya cuts in before he can answer. “Leave us alone for a minute.” The man hesitates, clearly torn between wanting to defend himself and correctly identifying me as a genuine threat to his continued health.
Smartly, he chooses survival.
He backs off with one last uncertain look at Alya, then disappears down the path.
I turn on her the second he’s gone. “What the hell was that?”
“That was me having a private moment until you arrived and threatened him with death.”
“That man had his mouth on you.”
“Yes,” she says flatly, as if I’m the stupid one here.
I stare at her. “Who is he?”
Her expression stiffens, then she says, “That’s my boyfriend.”
“Your what?”
She sighs, but there’s a little smile trying to break through, because apparently this is funny to her. “My boyfriend.”
“You know our father’s trying to pick the man for you, don’t you?”
She lifts one brow. “You mean the man you’re fucking? Yeah.”
And just like that, speech leaves me. I’m now staring at my sister like she’s just reached into my skull and set fire to everything.
“Y-you know?” I finally manage.
“Yeah.” She even chuckles a little. Which feels deeply unfair when my entire internal structure is collapsing.
