For the Love of Ceres

Chapter 5


“Yuuhi-kun, breakfast is ready.” Kyu, the fat-lipped all around friend of the Aogiri’s called out to Yuuhi who was reading the morning paper in the veranda of their house in the city.

Yuuhi stood up and went inside the house, meeting Kyu who was already eating the food set on the table.

“Kyu, aren’t you sad without Nee-san and Aya-chan?” Yuuhi asked as he sat on the floor.

Kyu paused for a while, “I am,” and resumed to eating.

Yuuhi smiled sadly. “It’s been months, ne? Aya doesn’t seem to mind us being away from her. Do you think she really loves the tennyo? Maybe the tennyo just possessed her.”

“No. I don’t think so. Aya’s been in love before but she doesn’t know to whom she was in love. Tooya was there to love her. And Aya felt that maybe she could love through Tooya.” Kyu said pensively.

“You’re saying that Aya is in love with being in love? She didn’t really love Tooya?” Yuuhi asked, confused.

“Yes. Well. No. Not exactly. Forget what I said.” Kyu said, feeling confused himself.

Yuuhi began to eat, still thinking that maybe Aya didn’t really love anyone but Ceres.

“Do you know that Ceres killed Suzumi-san and Tooya?” Yuuhi blurted out.

Kyu stared at him in silence.

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That Yuuhi! Ceres thought. She could feel Yuuhi’s presence and she knew that Yuuhi has already told somebody their secret.

“Ceres, you’re face is red, and it feels hot. Are you okay?” Aya asked her. Ceres nodded, feeling her own face.

“Aya, promise me you won’t believe whatever our visitors would tell you.” Ceres walked towards Aya.

“Who are they? What would they tell me?” Aya asked her. She could feel the world spinning. She stepped back and slumped on the floor. She was getting dizzy.

“It doesn’t matter, my love. It won’t matter.” Ceres assured her. She was already floating slightly above the ground.

The door opened. Kyu was holding a gun and Yuuhi was holding his golden chopsticks, which his sister-in-law gave her to protect the Ceres Generation two years ago.

Aya spun around. “Yuuhi-kun! Kyu! What’s going on?”

Yuuhi ran towards Aya whose vision became blurrier. She could only see Yuuhi’s blurred silhouette. “Aya, listen to me! Avoid Ceres. Don’t listen to her. She killed Tooya and Suzumi. She killed them.”

She? Who? Ceres? She killed Tooya? And Suzumi?

“And I’m going to kill you now, Aogiri Yuuhi.” Ceres’ cold voice from the beach came back.

Yuuhi turned around just in time to see Kyu hitting the wall. Ceres shielded herself from Kyu’s pistol and sent a harsh airstream towards Kyu. Kyu plummeted to the ground, unconscious. His fall was so intense that it created a shallow aperture.

Ceres turned to Yuuhi. “I’m going to give you my promise, my fatal kiss, my kiss of death.” Ceres was floating, riding the soft airstream with small particles of dust. Like a small tsunami, below Ceres’ bare feet. “The kiss, which took Aogiri Suzumi’s life. The kiss, which will take your life.”

“You men! You’re all beasts! All of you do not know how to love! We women serve as your playthings, but you should know that without us, your members would quiver silently, pleading for indulgence, asking for complete satisfaction! Without us, no one will care for you and give you affection..” Ceres’ voice broke down. “And without us, women, you men will forever remain beasts!”

“Why do you hate men so much, Ceres? Not all men are like what you think! Not all men treat you women as objects! Most of us know how it is to love. Like me. I may not be perfect but I know how to love. And Aya? She.. she’s my life.”

The little tsunami below Ceres’ gliding feet calmed down. Her harsh facial expression seemed to calm as well.

Ceres? It was Aya’s voice. Yuuhi and Ceres looked at her but she was in a deep sleep. She fainted after being nauseous. Why did you kill Tooya? Why did you kill him?

“Aya! I .. I .. I don’t know. Because I was jealous that he could touch you and feel you and love you, while I couldn’t. I was envious of him and I couldn’t bear knowing that you love him more than me.”

Ceres, I love him. I love him so much but you took him away from me. Do you know how much I suffered? Do you know how much I miss him? Do you know how much I sacrificed for Tooya?

“Aya, I’m still here. I can love you back..” Ceres tried to interrupt.

I hate you. I hate you, Ceres. I hate you. I can’t love you. I can’t love someone who took my Tooya away from me. I hate you. Please go away. Please.

“No.. No..” Ceres kept shaking her head. “NO!! I love you, Aya! I love you!”

Just go away! I don’t need you!

“No...” Ceres lifted Kyu’s unconscious body by a strong current of air and moved it near Yuuhi. Yuuhi, on the other hand, bent to receive Kyu’s body and tried to awaken him. “Aya, if you can’t love me, I’m going now. But I’m taking your friends with me. And you’ll soon find it depressing to be alone, and you’ll miss me..”

A pale red light surrounded both Yuuhi and Kyu and in a second, they fell to the ground. The pale red light moved towards Ceres and Suzumi’s body fell to the ground.

All dead.

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Aya woke up with a slight headache, finding Yuuhi, Kyu, and Suzumi’s body cold on the ground.

A certain feeling of numbness coursed through her veins as she sat there, staring grimly on her friends’ dead bodies.