> What if some rapist found your precious Lilly and left her cut open and dying in a building after raping her violently?
 
"Hisao? Is that you?"
 
I lean down and kiss Lilly gently on the forehead. She's shivering, not just from the cold, or from being naked, either.
 
She's lost a lot of blood. It's all over Shizune's hands. She's keeping up direct pressure as Misha frantically goes through her pack looking for her medical supplies.
 
"It's me," I whisper. "You're going to be fine. . ."
 
"I'm sorry," Lilly says. "They came in so fast. I couldn't. . ."
 
"It's all right. Just. . . don't say anything. You're going to be okay."
 
It's a lie. We both know that. Even if Shizune can stop the bleeding. Even if we can get her stitched up. . . she's not going to be okay. Not after what those animals did to her.
 
My heart is pounding. My vision blurs. I'm dangerously close to another cardiac arrest. I don't give a shit. If I'm going to die, there's something I need to do first.
 
"Kenji," I whisper.
 
My friend has already handed me the gun before I've finished talking. I'm not sure where Kenji found an M1911, but I've learned not to question it.
 
The animal looks up at me through blackened eyes. He spits out a bloody, broken tooth and laughs at me, his eyes wild and manic, as I put the muzzle of the pistol to his forehead.
 
"She moaned at the end," he growls. "She loved it."
 
I pull the trigger.
 
Waste of a perfectly good bullet.
 
-----
 
> Hanako Lewd
 
"H. . . hisao?"
 
"Yes, Hanako?"
 
"Have you. . . ummm. . . ever heard of something called. . . ummm. . . fellatio?"
 
I drop my chopsticks into my bowl of udon. The hot broth splashes over my fingers. Hanako looks down at her lap and clasps her hands together, shifting uncomfortably.
 
"Yes. . . yes I have," I admit.
 
". . . would you like me to try some of that tonight?"
 
". . . yes, yes I would. But. . . is that really proper dinner table conversation?"
 
"I'm sorry. It's just that. . . ummmm. I'm not really good at asking this sort of stuff in the bedroom. . . and I didn't want you to be surprised if I started. . . ummm. . . trying it. But. . . I heard it feels really good for a man to recieve a blowjob. So I'd really like to try it for you."
 
"Hanako," I say, gently reaching over to pat my girlfriend on the shoulder. "I love you. Very much. And I trust you, more than that. And you know I'd never, ever, say anything bad about you. . ."
 
"But?"
 
". . . but I think you're giving my mom and dad a heart attack."
 
I look across the table, where my parents are looking back at Hanako and I. Hanako blushes and stares at her feet. My mother's fixed, stony expression stares off into nothingness.
 
My father shrugs and takes another bite of his noodles. "Maybe we should try that too, honey," he says.
 
-----
 
> Vampire Shizune Feeding
 
"I vant to suck your bluhd! Wahahahahahahahahaha!"
 
-----
 
> Secret Santa with the girls from Yamaku
 
". . . honestly, this joke is getting old. Lilly's now got enough cameras to build a fort out of them, and Shizune's collection of headsets and ipods is taking up an entire room of her house. Not to mention all of the opera gloves Rin now owns. At least Emi can make use of the stockings she keeps getting. And Hanako does seem to appreciate the skin cream. . ."
 
-----
 
> Lilly and Shizune have a fight that ruins their relationship.
 
You rejected her?
 
Yes. I did.
 
How could you do that? Misha's been in love with you for months!
 
Yes. I know that now. Funny how I'm the last person to find out about that, isn't it?
 
It wasn't my place to say.
 
But it was your place to keep secrets from me? Secrets like this one?
 
I was only trying to help a friend.
 
I thought I was your friend too.
 
You are. Just. . .
 
. . . not as important a friend as Misha?
 
Don't blame me for this. I didn't have anything to do with it.
 
You know I'm straight. You know I don't like girls in that way. Why didn't you stop her? Why didn't you tell her not do do this? How could you decieve her like that?
 
I didn't know. . .
 
Didn't know what? That things would end up this way? Didn't know you'd end up nearly ruining one of my best friendships I'd ever had?
 
. . . we're done.
 
You're damn right we're done.
 
You are a heartless bitch, Shizune Hakamichi.
 
-----
 
> Hisao and Lilly at a carnival in the US. Lilly has to translate for him.
 
[Herro. How aru you? What izu this?]
 
[It's a fried snickers bar, little lady.]
 
"What did he say, Lilly?"
 
"Apparently it's a candy bar, but it's fried."
 
"I didn't know they could do that."
 
"Neither did I."
 
"Okay. Could you ask him what the thing I'm pointing at now is?"
 
[Thank you. What izu mai boyfriendu pointing at now?]
 
[That's fried butter.]
 
"He has to be kidding now, Hisao. He says it's fried butter."
 
"Fried butter? Is that even possible?"
 
"I'm kind of intrigued, actually. Could you buy some for me?"
 
"Are you trying to kill me, Lilly? I have a heart condition. I can't eat this stuff. . ."
 
"Just because you can't doesn't mean I shouldn't. I'm interested in finding out how it's possible to fry butter."
 
"This country is insane."
 
-----
 
> Lilly asks Emi to help her at the track because she thinks it's about time she started caring about her cardiovascular health.
 
". . . so why do you care so much about your cardiovascular health, anyway?"
 
"Well," Lilly Satou says, holding her cane across her lap. ". . . it's a little embarassing."
 
"I can keep a secret. My lips are sealed!" I even make the gesture, before I realize how pointless it is. I'm just glad that she didn't see me do it.
 
"Well. . . you know that Hisao and I have started dating, right?"
 
"Oh yeah! I heard about that!" I try to keep my tone nonchalant, despite my disappointment. Hisao's kind of cute, and there's a shortage of cute, sane boys at this school.
 
"Well. . . uhhh. Hisao and I have started. . . um. Having sex."
 
". . . okay. Congratulations, I guess?"
 
"Thank you," Lilly says. Damn, she's even polite when talking about her sex life. What is she, some sort of goddess? "But. . . well. Um. Last night. I was riding him, the way I do. . ."
 
". . . the way one does, yes. . ."
 
". . . and I felt a little. . . breathless."
 
". . . okay. So you want to take up jogging so that you can improve your cardiovascular health. . . so that you can have better sex with your boyfriend?"
 
"I'm glad you understand, Ibarazaki-san."
 
. . . this school is insane.
 
-----
 
> Rin painting Hanako
 
". . . can't I move yet?"
 
"Not yet. Still painting."
 
Rin picked up the paintbrush between her toes, dipped it into the blue, and ran it over Hanako's left knee, touching up one of the spots she'd missed on her first coat. This was turning interesting. Maybe if she put a big slash of green over there, across the place where the scars faded out a bit. . .
 
Hanako shivered as she stood in the empty art studio, wearing nothing but a thin coat of paint applied by the armless artist. How did she get into this mess?
 
"When you asked to paint me," she said. "This wasn't what I had in mind."
 
Rin shrugged and dipped her brush into her cleaning jar, then into the red. A slash of red across the body, from shoulder to hip. That's what she'd go for next.