The room was a complete mess. Origami paper and food wrappers were scattered everywhere. The house looked utterly neglected, in stark contrast to its beautiful exterior.
"Surprised, aren't you? The outside is beautiful, but the inside is rotten like this?" Marco said quietly as he picked up the sharp objects scattered across the kitchen floor. "That's how people are, Aora. Nothing is truly beautiful. They're all rotten inside."
After securing the objects, Marco looked at me with a grin. I shuddered. Fortunately, he was handsome, so my fear was slightly distracted. Even so, I still felt uneasy. Why would Marco let his younger siblings play with dangerous sharp objects like that?
I looked around. The atmosphere inside this house was truly gloomy. If I were here alone at night, I would have already fainted from fear.
Suddenly, my attention was drawn to a room with its door slightly ajar. Through the gap, I saw rows of photographs displayed on the wall. I glanced at Marco; he was busy teaching his younger siblings how to fold origami. Without asking permission, I slipped into the room.
As soon as I entered, I closed the door very carefully. I let out a relieved sigh. At least I could relax here, far from Marco and his weird younger siblings.
I turned my gaze toward the wall. Sure enough, the room was covered in photographs. I recognized the faces there; they were students from my school. There were pictures of Chaterine, Giva, and Sophia too. But I didn't see a picture of myself.
Where was my picture? Why was I the only one missing? I thought in a panic. Marco couldn't hate me so much that he refused to display my picture, could he?
As I searched, I found several torn photographs in the corner of the room. With trembling hands, I tried to pick them up. I swallowed hard, praying that they weren't pictures of me.
"You're acting just like a thief, Aora!"
That cold voice jolted me. Marco stood in the doorway, his blank stare chilling me to the bone. The silence that followed was so terrifying, it felt as though a faint horror-movie soundtrack was playing in the background.
"What are you doing in this room?" Marco asked again.
I had to answer! I had to come up with a good excuse before something terrible happened!
"Hahaha!" I laughed stiffly. "I was trying to go to the bathroom, but I accidentally wandered in here. You know I'm stupid and careless, right? Sorry, I just walked in."
I tried to steady my breathing. "You care so much about the kids at school that you display their pictures in a special room? But, Marco..." I stopped and looked into his eyes with a sad expression. "Why isn't there a picture of me anywhere? Do you hate me that much?"
Marco smiled. His smile was incredibly sweet, almost enough to make me melt if the situation weren't this insane.
"You want your picture displayed here?" Marco asked as he walked toward me. I nodded vigorously. "Of course!"
Marco grinned. For some reason, I immediately regretted that answer.
"You know, I don't display these because I like them," Marco whispered. "On the contrary, I display them because I hate every one of them. They're rotten. They only act nice to my face, then bad-mouth me behind my back. Their faces and smiles make me sick."
Marco looked at me with an unreadable expression. "You said you wanted your picture displayed here? Are you sure?"
My tongue suddenly went numb. This was the real Marco. So had his kindness all this time just been an act?
"You're different, Aora. That's why I haven't decided whether to display your picture here or not," he continued. "Like you said, you're stupid and careless. You're always acting ridiculous and making the teachers angry. Sometimes I lose my temper just watching you."
He grabbed both my shoulders and stared deeply into my eyes. "But your face is stiff, your smile is stiff, and your heart is frozen. You rarely smile, and when you do, it's nothing but a fake smile. We're alike, Aora. We're alike."
His voice dropped into a strange whimper. "That's why I want to get closer to you. I'll do anything to keep an eye on you. I don't want you to be tainted by these rotten people. So... do you still want your picture displayed here?"
I shook my head firmly. My heart was pounding so hard, I was afraid I would die of a heart attack right there. Marco pulled me into the room next door and locked the door.
"Relax. I won't do anything right now. I just want us to talk quietly without my younger siblings bothering us," he said, as if he could read my mind.
"Look, your picture is over there!"
Marco pointed to the wall, which was painted blood red. I flinched. There it was—my picture on display, with an arrow stuck right in the head.
"Wh-why did you shoot an arrow into my picture like that?" I stammered.
"Hahaha! To make it look interesting, Aora," he replied with a grin.
I laughed awkwardly, joining in for the sake of my life. This room, his younger siblings carrying sharp objects, his unnatural hatred... this guy was completely insane. He was like a psycho waiting for the perfect moment to destroy his prey.
"Marco, can I go home? I'll come back another time if I get the chance," I lied. I had no intention of coming back here.
Marco's smile vanished instantly. He gripped both my cheeks so tightly that the veins in his face stood out. "I know you, Aora! I told you, I always keep an eye on you. I know you're lying. You hate this place, don't you?"
His expression turned sad in an instant. "We're the same. The world left me with this suffering. Our shitty parents were willing to abandon us for the sake of their own separate worlds. Of course, I wasn't going to just sit around. To save my younger siblings from unnecessary sin, I erased them with my own hands."
Marco grinned again, then looked at me coldly. "I just want us to talk. Is that so hard?"
With my cheeks aching, I forced a smile. "Hahaha! I feel the same way," I lied again.
"Is that so? I'm glad to hear it. Do you want to help cleanse your parents' sins too, Aora?" Marco asked, his face lighting up.
He wanted me to kill my parents? He was insane! No matter how awful Dad was, I didn't want him to die.
"Why are you quiet? Is my idea bad? Do you think I'm cruel?" Marco whimpered, his eyes fixed sharply on me. "Should I cleanse you too? So no one can taint you again?"
"No! I don't want that!" I screamed instinctively.
Marco walked over to a drawer, rummaged through it, then pulled out a length of rawhide rope. "I have no other choice. I have to protect you, Aora. This is for your own good."
I pounded hysterically on the door, even though I knew no one would come to help. Suddenly, Marco burst out laughing. He tossed the rope back into the drawer.
"Hahaha! I was only kidding," he said with the warm smile he usually wore at school. "There's no way I would do that. Do you think I'm some crazy psycho? I just wanted to see your reaction because your blank face was getting on my nerves."
Marco opened the door. His three younger siblings stood there, smiling pleasantly. "We were just kidding too, Big Brother," said the little one who had been holding the scissors earlier.
Marco gently stroked my hair. "What goes on in that stupid brain of yours?"
I collapsed into a sitting position. My body went limp. "What is wrong with you people? Why would you prank someone that badly?" I said, trying to catch my ragged breath.
Marco insisted on walking me home as an apology. Along the way, he went back to acting like the normal Marco—the talkative class president who often nagged me not to walk in the middle of the street.
However, about fifty meters from my house, we saw a familiar figure. It was the transfer student, Haijima Yoko. She stood with her head bowed, but when she noticed us approaching, she shot me a sharp look before turning to Marco.
"I want to talk!" she said demandingly.