Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Toxic Butterflies ❯ Phobia ( Chapter 2 )

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Toxic Butterflies

Chapter 2: Phobia

By: Revamp

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People often fear what they do not understand.

As typical of a sentence that is, it holds an abundance of truth. Everyone is so quick to rid the world of the bad and that causes judgment and biased opinions. I think it's wonderful to be criminally insane; it gives you a sense of adrenaline like nothing else, and a blood thirst enough to produce feelings of sensations that make your skin tingle.

The party went well. I left an hour before things started to wind down, when everyone finally remembered that Aze was gone. They were so busy talking and having fun that they didn't even notice.

That just shows you how memorable that psycho of an emotional train wreck actually was. It's easy to kill the mentality of the unstable. All you really have to do is use their insanity against them. Usually, they'll end up getting so worked up that they will become more entangled in their predator's web.

Oh, what an evil, twisted web that has been woven. That's what happens when you walk on the cobwebs, my dear.

Beside her, a lone moth was perched by her hand and a couple of them fluttered haphazardly around the small lamp. Their wings flapped slowly.

“You seem calmer now that you've gotten your fill,” Suroriya's eyes held affection for the little blood suckers. One of the fluttering insects landed on her cheek, its wings opening and closing slowly as a pleasant smile crept to her face, “such endearing creatures.”

The girl glanced to the wall to the left of her, where the picture painted in blood of her departed sister hung. It was truly beautiful hanging there. That spot was perfect, as if Copperia could watch her exact her revenge and write of her triumphs daily to check on her progress. “Don't worry, Copperia. Your death will be avenged. Phase two of my plan will be initiated today.”

Q-chan hopped a couple of times on her desk, cocking his head from side to side as he watched one of the moths, sitting on the corner of the lamp, just out of reach of the rays of the light. Suroriya propped her head up with one hand. “Well, Q-chan, things should be interesting today.”

“Interesting! Things will be interesting! Interesting! Interesting!” The bird called out from his position on the desk.

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Kosei sat in silence in the kitchen. His eyes weren't focused on anything, and the bland hum of the fan served as the only noise in the room. The white of the table blurred in his view and then clarified it in intervals as his thought process drifted from one subject to the next. He held a hand to his forehead in dismay as he mulled over his sister's death over and over again. Kosei couldn't get the events off of his mind, rethinking what he could do right if he had to go through the party over again. It was supposed to be an event of merriment, but it was only a grim night, ending in bloodshed.

`Aze…'

His thoughts drifted once more as he remembered her body as he found it: laying on the floor in a crumpled heap, dried blood stuck to her once pristine skin and mattered in her light blue hair, her glazed over eyes stared up, frozen in her final moment of horror and that umbrella, popped open with her organs laying around her in the circle they had fallen off in from running off of the device. Her corpse was covered in moths and butterflies, lapping up her blood.

`How could this have happened? Why did it happen? She just came back from France. I wanted to make this special, and try to rid this place of all of the blood that hung onto it.' His eyes narrowed as he reflected on Suroriya's appearance at the party.

`That girl…Suroriya. She looks so much like her. Could it be?' Blue eyes widened for a moment of anxiety, and then narrowed. `No…'

Vivid imagery of the girl Aze had killed, laying on the floor with the same blank stare his sister had, and sights pointed up into the ceiling assaulted his mind. `She's dead. We put her under the floor in the basement. No one suspects a thing. Not Prada, Shana or my childhood friend. She's just some creepy lolita girl that means nothing. This is all one big coincidence…but still, that house next door. It was never inhabited by anyone before. She showed up out of nowhere.'

That in itself was very strange. No matter how much Kosei tried to convince himself that it was just a freak accident, he had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that dictated otherwise. There was something off about it, and the unknown beckoned him to answer it and fill in the gaps. Aze's soul would not be rested until he managed to find out whom or what caused her death. Kosei didn't need another burden hanging over his shoulders.

The clacking of heels on the hard tile floor filled his senses, washing the flashbacks out of his mind as his girlfriend neared him. Prada walked up from behind, clad in a simple white dress with a black belt and heels. A white daisy adorned the side of her head and concern sparkled in her dazzling green eyes. “Are you okay, Kosei?” Her tone was subdued and sorrowful.

“I'm just depressed.”

The chair beside of him was scooted back as she sat down. “I'm sorry that you had to see Aze like that. She just got back from France, too. My condolences,” she knew that night had been hard on all of them, and more than ever, Kosei needed to lean on her. Prada was there to provide any comfort that he might need and she wanted him to know that.

“I just don't understand. The police ruled her death was accidental, but I don't buy it,” Kosei said in frustration as he ran both of his hands through his blue locks, pulling at them.

Prada cocked her head in concern. “You think someone did it? But who? They only ones here who knew that Aze was coming were Shana, Suroriya and I,” she didn't think that sweet little lolita was the type to kill anyone. Yes, she was reserved and a little cold but Suroriya didn't have the nature of a killer. Not in her opinion.

Laying his hands down, his miserable gaze befell the black-haired girl. “It was just bizarre…too bizarre to be an accident. It was like someone placed the umbrella there for her to fall on.”

“None of us were in the basement, though,” Prada tried to convince him of what she thought was the truth. There was no way that anyone could have killed her. They were all waiting for her to bring up her paintings. “I know that when I found her, I just fell apart.”

Prada walked cautiously down the steep stairs. She could understand why Aze didn't want anyone accompanying her. They were far too steep for most girls with heels to venture down, and falling down them would have resulted in substantial injuries or maybe even death.

She peered around through the dust.

“Aze?” Prada called out for Kosei's sister, but she didn't hear anything. When she reached the ground, she glanced around and noticed something lying on the floor.

She threw her hands up to her mouth as her green eyes were reduced to the size of pin pricks and she released a blood curdling scream. Prada couldn't hold it back, tears flowed from her eyes.

Sadness etched itself on her visage as she recalled those moments before everything blurred into a whirlwind of confusion and emotion. “It was horrible.”

“I had the umbrella taken in for examination,” Above everything, he wanted to make absolute sure that the situation was an accident and not something premeditated by a member who was at the party.

“Did you get anything back yet?”

“There was nothing. Not even a thread or a single trace of DNA.” Much to his dismay, they could not form a case if they could not deem suspicion.

“Are you really sure that someone killed her and it was just an accident? I mean, everything points to it being an accident,” Prada just couldn't grasp that anyone would hurt Aze on purpose, especially when everyone she knew was at the party. There were a few people she didn't know but they were all friends of Kosei's. Was he accusing them of possibly killing his sister? If not then the whole idea of the investigation was illogical.

“I just can't believe that,” Kosei wasn't about to hear any of her excuses. Someone set Aze up to die and he was going to find out who it was.

“Do you suppose someone snuck in the basement and killed her?” It was possible, considering the amount of people. Maybe someone had gone in there unnoticed.

“You don't think it's one of us, do you?” Shana questioned, coming up behind the two of them. She couldn't help but overhear the conversation from the living quarters. The spacious rooms made voices easy to carry.

“Whoever it was stole a painting as well.” It was that painting. That only told him that whoever it was had an affiliation with Copperia in one way or another. Someone was getting revenge for her.

Shana arched a red eyebrow. “A deranged fan, maybe?”

“I think it's much more than that,” Kosei was sure of it.

“Do you think we did this?” The red head was afraid to ask the question, but pressed on with a slight tremble in her voice. The last thing she wanted to be written off as was a murderer.

“No.”

That answer lifted the guilt a little.

“Do you have an idea of who did?”

“I'm suspicious of a few people.” There were a handful of people he encountered in the past who would have reason to do such a thing, and whether they were at the part or not was of little importance. All they had to do was have knowledge of her return from France.

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A girl approached the door to Kosei's mansion. She looked to be about seventeen in age, and had long, black hair that was evenly cut across the bottom and bangs and lavender eyes. She was clad in a blue sweater with a shield emblem on the right breast and a plaid skirt with baggy, white socks and black loafers. Glancing next door, she saw Suroriya in her garden, watering the brilliant red flowers as Q-chan sat on a post, intently watching his master's actions.

A strange look crossed the girl's face upon seeing someone inhabiting the house and carrying about mundane chores. No one had ever been there before, and she never recalled the house being up for sale. Now, all of a sudden, someone was there. `That's strange. I've never seen her there before. Who is she?'

Absentmindedly, she knocked but never looked at the door. The girl just continued to stare at the strange lolita.

Standing up from her bent position, Suroriya wiped the sweat from her brow. She made direct eye contact with the girl next door and rested one hand on her hip, shifting her weight to the right. “It seems our dear Kosei is…quite popular with the ladies.”

“Popular! Popular!”

Suroriya sat her watering tin down and walked over to the fence once more. She decided to get the girl's attention, “I haven't seen you before. Are you looking for Kosei?”

The girl nearly jumped out of her socks. “Oh, yeah! Is he home?”

“He should be. He hasn't left since his sister died a couple of days ago.” Now, it was time to watch the look on her face. If she was correct, this girl would have the typical reaction to such a horrendous crime.

“She died?” Almost, although she was clueless that it had happened.

“It's a real tragedy. She was such a nice thing, too. A little crazy, but aren't we all?” The lolita left a disturbing edge to the last part of that sentence that made the girl clearly shudder at it.

This was amusing.

The girl looked down, her face stricken with sorrow. “That's sad to hear. I should wish him the best. I couldn't help but notice that you were watering flowers out back. Did you just plant them?”

It seemed she was reverting back to a topic that would stray her from thinking about her friend's pain. How selfish, and yet, how amusing. Suroriya decided to play along. “Not too long ago, yes. I'm pretty new to this neighborhood. I've been trying to make this place look a little livelier.”

Glancing around, the lavender-eyed girl couldn't help but to make an assumption based on her surroundings. The flowers around her were various shades of crimson, a crimson that was unnatural for any flower to be. It was almost as if they were being injected with red dye of some kind. “Why do the flowers look so strange?”

Suroriya cocked her head, yet no curious expression was written on her features. “What do you mean?”

“They have a strange red tint to them.”

Orange eyes looked back to the blossoms, waving in the breeze. The monochromes of pink and red swayed to and fro. “It's a very special plant food that I use. It ensures that no weeds grow in my precious garden. Such filthy plants would only deprive the truly beautiful, more fragile flowers of what is rightfully theirs.”

The door opened to the mansion and Prada and Shana stepped outside, glancing around. Their voices could be heard from far away, as they called out to the girl. It seemed her name was Aya. They also waved and called to Suroriya as well. The commotion caused their attention to revert to them as they walked a few steps towards them.

“Shana! Hey! I knocked twice and no one answered. What gives?” Aya said as she met her friends half-way.

“Oh, really sorry about that. I was caught up talking to Prada about Kosei. By the way, did you guys hear that Aze died?” Shana's features became ridden with sorrow as her blue eyes were cast to the ground. Those memories still haunted her, and as much as she tried the girl could not get them out of her head. It was truly a moment of horror, frozen, burned into her brain.

“How unfortunate, I was at the party and I had no idea that happened until you came running out from the basement. It must have been frightening. I hope you're feeling alright.” The strangling grip that terror has on someone when they were viewing a corpse was immensely strong. It was enough to bring the hardest of hearts fear, and make the faintest of hearts vomit bile onto the ground at the inkling of that feeling.

“I'm alright now. It was actually Prada who found her. She's still shaken by it,” Shana looked to her friend, who held crestfallen features.

Aya was confused, but found herself wishing to acquire more knowledge on the events of the party. “What happened, exactly?”

Shana sighed. She knew people would begin to question things. “It's a long story. I'll explain it to you when we get inside.” Blue eyes glanced to the lolita, who had just been casually listening in as if she was a mere bystander, “Suroriya, will you be coming over for tea later on?”

They were presumptuous, weren't they? She told them that she would be there as she stood erect and turned around to retreat into her small house. Shana clasped her hands together. She was more than glad that a real lolita would be accompanying their tea party.

A dark smile crossed the orange-haired girl's face. `If only to get my hands on my prey, much like the spider, I stalk and monitor my victim before I mercilessly desecrate them.'

From over her shoulder, Q-chan watched the group of chattering girls as they made their way into the mansion, unaware of his master's dark plans.

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“Aya, you're here,” Kosei was a little surprised his friend showed up at the time she had. He wasn't expecting her for another few hours.

Aya's visage saddened. She wasn't sure how to bring up such a tough subject for Kosei. “Yes…and apparently a lot has happened since I was gone.”

Shana placed her hand behind her head with a nervous expression, “I sort of…told her about Aze.”

Aya placed a hand over her heart and clenched her sweater in her hand, as if she were signifying some sort of pain, “I'm so sorry about your sister. You must be taking it hard.”

The entire time she'd known Kosei, he had always been close to Aze. When they were children, it was hard to pry the two of them apart. He had always been the brave big brother, protecting his sister to the best of his abilities. It was a trait that the two of them shared even when they grew up. It must have been agonizing to feel so powerless in a situation like this, as if he could no longer help the one person he would have willingly sacrificed his life for…and the void of loss must have hung like a suffocating blanket around him.

“You could say that. I haven't been myself lately,” Kosei knew that of all people, Aya knew his feelings the most. She had been there to experience the strong bond that he held with his sister. It was something that struck him to the core, and crippled his way of life. That, among other reasons was why he had to justify her death and find out who was responsible for such a horrendous act. If he could not help her in life, he would make sure that she rest in peace after death.

Prada walked into the room at that moment, holding a beautiful arrangement of flowers. She could sense the tension from a mile away and felt a little awkward as everyone grew silent and followed her with their eyes, heads unmoving, “hey, Aya.”

“Hello Prada. What are you up to?” Aya smiled, trying to break the tense mood with a little casual conversation.

“Suroriya wanted me to help her make décor out of these flowers. She also makes floral teas. Isn't she amazing?” Prada had grown to love the orange-haired lolita over the short course of time that they had known each other. She would make daily trips to her house and learn of the refined and gentle ways of the lolita's lifestyles. Prada had always wanted to be a woman of class and elegance. Suroriya taught her how to be just that.

“You really like that lolita stuff, don't you?” Shana spied the beautiful arrangements in her arms.

“You know me. I've been into that stuff since I was little. That's how Kosei and I met. He was the head of the Lolita Society in high school,” Prada remembered those times like they had happened the other day. Kosei's sense of fashion and sophistication was what drew her to him, as well as his good looks. Ever since then, Prada had been stuck to him like glue.

“You still don't know if Suroriya is actually a lolita or not,” Kosei brought up a crucial point. Many could emulate the style of clothing, but it took more than that to be considered a true lolita.

Prada puffed up her cheeks as an irritated look crossed her face. “Of course she's a real lolita. Just look at her! The clothes, her hobbies, she loves the simple, yet elegant.”

“You've been spending a lot of time with her lately,” Kosei couldn't help but feel a little replaced by his girlfriend's strange attraction to the woman next door.

Prada waved in dismissal. “Don't be so jealous, Kosei,” she tried to chide his fears. “Besides, you have Aya here with you. The two of you need to catch up.”

Kosei sighed in irritation at the suggestive wink his girlfriend gave at the end of that note. She always gave him such hell about his childhood friend.

“Well, I do have to agree with her,” Shana piped up as Aya blushed.

“What are you trying to imply?” Honestly, how embarrassing! They needed to stop teasing the two of them so much. They were never anything romantic, nor did they ever plan on being. Aya would never do that to Prada. In fact, she supported the two of them.

Shana became flustered and waved her hands around frantically. “Nothing like that! I was just saying that Kosei could probably use the friendship and the comfort right now. After all, Aze's funeral is at the end of this week.”

Aya's features softened. That was probably why Kosei was so grim today, “I didn't know that. What happened to your sister, anyway.”

“I'll explain it to you,” Kosei decided that he would catch his friend up on the latest events that had transpired. As much as he dreaded the burning images that invaded his mind, haunting him, there was no way around what must be done.

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Prada knocked lightly on the door of the little orange house. She was happy with the work that she had done for her friend. Looking down at her arrangements for the final time, the girl felt satisfied in a job well done. Who knew? Maybe she would get some sort of great compliment from the lolita she had come to admire so much. “Knock, knock!” Her voice sing-songed, further signifying her existence.

Suroriya opened the door and looked at the girl with her dead, orange eyes. “Hello?”

Prada proudly held out her décor and flowers for inspection, “I brought the stuff!”

“Oh, yes. Come in,” Suroriya stood to the side of the door and held out a hand, gesturing for the girl to walk inside.

Prada walked into the house and glanced around. Her walls were a shade of slate blue with the occasional picture and light fixtures attached to the wall in the shapes of flowers. They cast a serene, soft light along the rich, Victorian furniture that was strategically placed in minimalistic fashion, along with the embroidered throw rug that was placed in the center of the room. A rich mahogany table sat on top of the brilliantly colored tapestry.

She was in awe at how everything was set up. It was in true lolita fashion. Things like this only made her want to drag Kosei inside of the house to see what a true lolita Suroriya was. “It's so beautiful.”

“I appreciate your compliments. Feel free to sit down, and I'll make you some of my famous flora tea,” Suroriya instructed as the girl took a seat on the antique, rust-colored couch.

“Floral tea! Floral Tea! Famous Flora Tea!” Q-chan repeated from his place, perched inside of a large cage that was suspended from a pole, like in the olden days of song birds. Suroriya even had exquisite taste in the furnishings of her pets.

She was truly something else.

Prada giggled at the silly song bird, commenting on how funny he was.

“You have a soft spot for animals, don't you?” Suroriya questioned from her position in the kitchen as she fetched a beautiful tea set and placed the pieces on a serving tray.

“I believe that animals and children are the true innocence of the world. I hate to see them killed, or know that people would hurt them,” Prada was very active against animal rights and child abuse. To do that to something so innocent and pure was the worst crime and those who committed such crimes needed to have the same thing done to them in order to see and feel the pain they put such creatures through.

Suroriya poured the tea into two small tea cups with floral designs around the edges. She then peered into the glass of the tea pot. “I believe that you may be right. As children grow, they become corrupted but animals only act on instinct. They do what they can to survive. The human race can be a very wicked thing.”

To speak against herself was a very contradiction to who she was. However, Suroriya even had her moral standards as a murderer. She would never lay hands on a child or an animal, for they had committed no wrongs against her. As a murderer, Suroriya had high standards and those standards were to only kill who wronged her. They were to write her own sense of divine justice - an eye for an eye.

“There are good people in the world left,” that she was sure of. Her conversation was cut short by a tea cup being sat before her. Prada peered into the reddish colored liquid inside with a smile on her face. “Oh, that looks delicious!”

“It's a very special blend of mine. I hope that you enjoy it,” Suroriya smiled quaintly as she sat the kettle down on a porcelain plate, and sat a tea cup in front of the spot on the couch that she was going to sit at. Golden eyes watched as the black-haired girl sipped gingerly on the tea, taking in the unique flavor profile.

Prada closed her eyes. “It's heavenly…Can you teach me how to make it?”

She could have given anything to know a recipe that Suroriya made.

The lolita sat beside of her. “This recipe is off limits, my dear. It's my signature piece, made with the rarest of ingredients.” Nice try, but the only one who was to make this type of tea was her. Prada could learn her own secret recipe on her own time. Signature blends took a while to master; it was no simple task for commoners and neophytes.

Prada pulled the tea cup away from her lips, a little surprised that Suroriya turned her down. “So, it's very expensive to make?”

Suroriya looked at her, “you could say that. Most would describe it as `to die for' but I feel it's in bad taste to utter such words.”

Her reason mostly being the death of Aze and the fact that cracking such a joke would be entirely too soon. It might even lead to wrongful conviction, and that simply wouldn't do.

“Well, you're definitely right about that! I'd kill to know what you put in this tea to give it the nice flavor that it has,” Prada giggled a little, joking around with the reserved girl who merely arched an eyebrow in response. Then her expression turned grim. “By the way, are you alright?”

She had been worried about Suroriya and how she took Aze's death. Even if she didn't know Kosei's sister very well, the fact that there was a death at his mansion could very well keep her from wanting to visit them anymore, or give her a bad vision of the house. It could grow to make her paranoid on attending events that were held there as well.

Suroriya was confused. “Why would you be asking me that? Have I been acting off?”

“Aze's death…it really shook everyone up. You were at the party, too. You're so quiet that it's hard to pin point what you feel. I was worried about you,” Prada felt that it was her duty as the lolita's friend to chide her fears, if she had any. Suroriya always seemed so brave in the face of danger. She never expressed her feelings about anything unless she was amused with something.

“You should be worried about that blue-haired boy. Aze was his sister. If anyone would be directly affected, he would.” Yes Kosei, get your affection now before you don't get the chance. No matter who was there for him, he would still fall. It was simply a matter of time. If his guilt didn't drive him into the depths of insanity, then she had other means of tearing him down.

“He is directly affected. He's also really suspicious of it all. He doesn't think any of it was an accident, even though the police claimed that it was due to the lack of any evidence,” Prada explained his situation.

“The only people at the party were you, and all of Kosei's friends. Is he implying that one of his friends had a motive to kill his sister?”

“I don't know. He's been acting really weird since Aze's death. I asked him if he was suspicious of Shana and I and he said no.”

This was certainly interesting. Kosei was onto her. She put the tea cup to her lips and took a sip. “Do you think he is?”

“I'm suspicious of his answer to it, but I think it's because he's been so bothered by it. I feel like he's staring at me with contempt.” That was the true reason she had made so many excuses to get out of that house. Prada felt paranoid by her boyfriend and that accusing stare of his. It unnerved her on many levels.

“It seems he's lost trust in you.” What a terrible relationship that was to be in. Suroriya could use it to her advantage.

Prada's gaze hit the tea cup in her hands, sitting on the fabric of her skirt. Her voice was low and quiet, “that's what it feels like. I don't think I could ever do anything like that. To be looked at like he thinks it might be me…it haunts me.”

“Trust is a strange thing. It takes years to make and seconds to ruin,” the best of friends could lose trust for each other over the most miniscule of problems. It truly was a fickle emotion, and a silly one in her opinion, something that was not needed, because in the darkest of times it would be the first thing to be sacrificed.

“I'm a jumbled mess over it. I mean, I found her and I've never seen anyone who had been killed in such a gruesome way. If someone did plan that, they must have had a super huge deal with Aze,” Prada didn't want to think of the possibilities of a premeditated murder.

“Perhaps.”

“I'm just blabbering. We should get started, right?” Prada didn't want to think about Aze's death anymore. It was bad enough that was all everyone in the mansion dwelled on; she's rather not do so outside of the house.

“I suppose the subject matter is grim, isn't it?” Suroriya didn't mind. She could drone on and on about the aspects of Aze's death. Hell, she could even make a speech about the most satisfying moment of her life up to date.

“Oh, look at me. I came over here to get away from that stuff and here I am talking about it. I guess I just needed someone to talk to. Thanks for listening to me, Suroriya. You're such a good friend.” Now Prada felt like a burden. She was pretty sure that Suroriya didn't want to hear about it anymore than she did. After all they were both at the party and they both were there when Aze was found. Prada felt pretty bad. She was certain that she wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

“I was interested,” Suroriya replied as she noticed the girl's gaze go up to the picture of her sister that had been moved into the living room.

“That's a really eerie picture,” Prada concluded. It looked like it was painted in blood, and the person in the portrait had an eerie smile. It creeped her out and unsettled her.

“It's a painting of my sister.”

“Your sister?” Prada arched an eyebrow.

“I am a twin.”

“So, you guys looked alike.”

“We had our small differences but in looks we were identical.”

“I'd love to meet your sister some day.”

Little did she know, her casual conversation was about to come to a screeching halt. Once again, Prada would feel stupid for her words and subject matter.

“She's dead.”

There was a small silence.

“Oh…I'm sorry.”

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why did she have to bring up something like that, even if she didn't know she felt rude, especially after she complained about Aze's death and how it affected her so much.

“This picture is what I have left of her. It was painted by her killer,” Suroriya decided to let some minor details of the murder seep out. It was just vague enough not to give anything too substantial away. Even if it did, it would still make no difference in the outcome of the plans she had yet to put into motion.

“By…her killer?” That was very disturbing. Why was Suroriya telling her this?

“Yes, her killer murdered her and painted this in her blood. They were obsessed with finding the perfect shade of red. No matter how hard they tried, they could never achieve it. They became delusional and saw the perfect shade as that of human blood.” Slowly but surely, she would uncover the true depths of Aze's character in inadvertent ways. If Prada could figure out the murder mystery, then more power to her. Maybe she would gladly assist her in her endeavors.

Turnabout was fair play, after all.

Prada was shocked and disgusted. She recoiled from the feeling of dread and anger. “What a sick person! How could someone just kill another simply to get their blood?” It was a crime that was truly beyond her. It was sick and twisted, and it made her stomach wrench in revulsion. Just thinking of the last moments of that girl's life made her want to vomit. She must have gone through such pain.

“You could say it left me…a bitter woman…” That was an understatement as to what state it truly had left her in.

“People like that don't deserve to live.”

“Well, this person isn't alive. They passed away recently.”

Prada got up and walked over to the picture of Copperia, staring into it with intensity. “Thank god. People like that shouldn't be allowed to walk among the sane people in society,” she complained before her body froze suddenly and the empty tea cup tumbled out of her hand and smashed into the floor. Pieces of porcelain dispersed.

Quickly, she withdrew her foot and looked down, green eyes full of remorse and shock at her actions. “Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!”

Suroriya was going to be pissed. That tea cup was probably super expensive.

The lolita walked over and stared down at the broken tea cup with no expression, “I'm glad that was an inexpensive one.”

This was exactly why she didn't serve tea to guests in any of the tea sets she prized. It was asking for situations like this to happen.

Prada bent down and started picking up the shattered pieces. Her arms were shaky and eyes wide with realization and fear. She had gotten close enough to the picture to realize the mark of the artist who had painted it. She remembered looking at paintings with Kosei.

Prada had asked him about a particular painting and he told her it was Aze's. She was surprised and inquired about her signature. Kosei had told her that she didn't initial her paintings or sign them; she merely drew a diamond with two S-shaped lines on either side. It was her unique mark that made her works distinguishable from other artists'.

Suddenly, everything made sense.

`Wait…what is she trying to tell me? Is she trying to say that Aze is really the one who killed her sister? If that's so…Then she-`

“Are you alright?” Suroriya asked. This girl was really shaken up, too much so to be fumbling around with glass, or to be scared by a little tea cup. Maybe she finally got the point of her little story.

“The tea cup slipped from my hand. I'm really sorry,” Prada stood back up, cradling the glass shards in her hands as thoughts flooded her mind. `Surely not…This has to be some weird coincidence. Aze didn't seem like that kind of girl. If she did, though, then Suroriya has the perfect motive to kill her. Come to think of it, I didn't see her for part of the party. I'm beginning to think that maybe Kosei might be right about her.'

…To Be Continued