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It was an average Monday; the student council had gathered for their usual morning meeting before school started. Everyone was already seated and either looking at documents, working on homework, or if they were Runa, playing on their tablet. Everyone was there except for the Beautification Officer.
Though that didn’t necessarily draw any concern since this wouldn’t have been the first time Midari skipped a morning meeting, it was still a bit strange. Midari, though she didn’t seem like it, did actually take her job fairly seriously. She had to since it gave her many advantages and privileges, such as having the key to the school’s basement where she would do numerous questionable events. Hence why she rarely missed any student council meetings out of fear that her position could be taken away from her.
Yuriko seemed to be the only one to notice and be concerned about her absence since the President had already begun the meeting without her, but perhaps that was because the two were dating. She looked around anxiously, hoping someone would point it out, but nobody did.
Hesitantly, she raised her hand. Kirari stopped speaking and briefly looked over at Yuriko with a slightly surprised expression on her face. Whatever she had to say, it must have been important since she rarely spoke up during meetings.
“Is there something wrong, Yuriko?” Kirari asked.
Yuriko winced at the President’s sharp tone. “Well, it’s just… shouldn’t we wait a little longer for Midari to arrive?”
“Why should we? She probably overslept again,” Runa hummed, her eyes still focused on her tablet.
“Or misplaced her gun again,” Yumemi rolled her eyes.
“I’m sure she's fine, Yuriko. No need to-” Runa spoke up but was cut off by the door to the student council room suddenly swinging open.
There stood Hyakkaou’s Beautification Officer who looked slightly out of breath and very exhausted. However what everyone except for Yuriko appeared to completely overlook was the large bruises on her right cheek, all along her collarbone, and a long scratch just underneath her eye. It greatly disturbed Yuriko that nobody seemed to even bat an eye.
Then again, why should they? It was Midari’s job to take care of the riff-raff in Hyakkaou. She was basically the school's security in a sense. It shouldn’t have been unusual to see her in such a state. Yet Yuriko couldn't help but feel worried by the sight of her girlfriend who was black and blue.
“Midari, how lovely for you to join us,” Kirari grinned.
“Almost twenty minutes late,” Yumemi pointed out.
Midari waved them both off. “Yeah, yeah, just continue. I woke up late.”
Everybody looked back at the President as she continued her plans for the week. Yet Yuriko remained focused on the girl who walked towards her and eventually plopped down in the seat next to her. At this point, neither were paying attention for different reasons. Midari was simply disassociating, but Yuriko was staring at her wounds.
Midari flinched when she felt someone touch her cheek. She immediately turned to see Yuriko who no longer looked concerned, but angry. In fact, she was seething. Yuriko noticed the bags under her girlfriends eyes which meant Midari also was losing sleep over whatever happened. From the looks of it, it happened fairly recently. Perhaps over the weekend.
“Who did this to you?” She asked, her voice tense and quiet.
Midari saw images of her mother flash through her mind. The drunken rage from her mother throwing a glass beer bottle at her, the pain she felt when she was repeatedly struck in the face. And Midari let it happen, not really caring what happened to her anymore. If her mom used her as a personal living punching bag to take her anger out on, then whatever. She wasn't hurting anyone else in that sense. Midari had finally understood just why her father left. Her mother used to abuse him the same exact way; she only switched her target since he was no longer around.
And so the one-eyed girl suffered in silence, allowing her mother to take it all out on her. Better her than one of her siblings, even though she acted like she didn't care about a single one of them. She knew they still had a life ahead of them, but Midari? Realistically, she knew one of these days she'd really get shot in the head because of her crazy gambles. That, or she'd die from her mother's hand.
But the absolute last thing Midari wanted was people knowing she was being beat up by her own mom, a woman much smaller and weaker than her. That just sounded pathetic. It was much easier to tell people she got her cuts and bruises from winning fights in school or because of some wild gamble. No one would question it either due to her student council position.
Midari shrugged and scratched her neck. "Does it matter?"
"Yes, because I care about you," Yuriko hissed. "Now, who did this?"
Truthfully, she didn't want her girlfriend knowing about her home life or her wretched mother. Yuriko knew very little about Midari's home life, but she was somewhat aware of Midari's mommy issues. She just didn't know the cause of it and Midari didn't plan on sharing that bit of information with her yet if at all.
"It was nothing, really," Midari played it off.
Yuriko shook her head and then gave a twisted smile which caused Midari's insides to churn with unease. "No, this won't do. You need to tell me who did this and I swear I will-"
"Shouldn't we be focusing on the President?" Midari interrupted her.
Yuriko was close to shouting at her due to her frustration, but noticed that the President had actually stopped speaking and all eyes were now on her and Midari. Yuriko shifted uncomfortably in her seat and avoided the stares from the other Student Council members.
"May I continue?" Kirari asked politely.
"O-of course, President. My apologies," Yuriko blushed from embarrassment.
Yuriko drowned out Kirari's voice as she spoke up once again. Her mind was swarming with thoughts and countless theories on who could have done this to Midari. But most importantly, Midari was hurt and didn't even tell her. Usually she would if it was because of a gamble or a student she had to discipline. Something about this situation felt different. Off. And Midari truly was insane if she believed Yuriko wouldn't find out who was responsible for harming her.
Midari kept glancing over at her girlfriend who was deep in her thoughts. She knew exactly what Yuriko was thinking about, but she hated that Yuriko was even stressing over her in the first place. She placed her hand over Yuriko's in hope that it would break her free from her thoughts, but Yuriko didn't do so much as even flinch or look her way. She only squeezed Midari's hand in assurance, but her expression remained the same. Midari knew Yuriko was pissed off and she would have to explain herself for this later.
Yuriko had patiently waited all day for a chance to finally confront Midari and demand who dared to put their hands on her. She was mad she never got the chance to do so since Midari apparently left school early. There was nothing that prompted this, though according to Sayaka, Midari had a doctors appointment. Yuriko knew that was total bullshit; Midari refused to see a doctor for any reason ever since she turned fourteen. There was no reason for her to start seeing one now.
Yuriko must have texted and called her dozens of times when she got home, but her girlfriend never responded. That was also very unlike Midari who would usually text back within the hour. But by the time the sun had long since set with no response, Yuriko had lost hope and decided to wait until tomorrow to talk to her about it. She knew Midari was hiding something from her, something important. It was the only logical explanation and it pained her that Midari didn't trust her enough to talk to her about this.
In actuality, Midari wasn't responding to Yuriko's messages because her phone was now broken, completely shattered on the floor of her house due to a fit of rage from her mom. Her mother had picked her up early from school only so she could watch over her younger siblings at home while she went to the bar for the majority of the afternoon. Midari of course, didn't really watch over her siblings and instead tried to rest after receiving little to no sleep because of her mother, but her siblings denied this of her and ran around the house playing and screaming. Sleep was far from possible with all the noise and distractions. Even after threatening to strangle one of them if they wouldn't stop screaming-
And when Midari's mother finally returned as a drunk mess, that's when the yelling began. So much yelling. The yelling Midari could handle. They were just screams of a woman going mad from the sheer amount of alcohol in her system. It just stung because Midari knew her mother absolutely meant each and every threat and insult she threw her way. Alcohol brings out the truth in people, no?
The punches and thrown objects which left black and blue marks are what Midari despised. She didn't deny that she was a masochist, but this kind of pain she received zero pleasure from. Not to mention the situation was a difficult one for her to handle. She couldn't just hit her mother back, no matter how much she wanted to. Her mother would threaten to hit her siblings instead and Midari didn't want to find out if she was telling the truth. Her siblings were incredibly obnoxious little brats, but still didn't deserve what was inflicted on her. Midari couldn't stand seeing little kids being abused. She had been in that position for half of her life after all and it wasn't pleasant.
"Get out, you useless waste of space!" Midari's mother shrieked, throwing a knife at her.
That had been the final straw. If her mom wanted her to leave so badly, so be it. Midari didn't need to worry about her siblings since they snuck out and were spending the night at their aunt's house down the street per Midari's order to. She endured her mother quite enough for the night. She didn't care if she had to sleep on the streets. She just needed to get the hell away from her.
Midari narrowly avoided the knife that nearly hit her shoulder and flipped her off. "You got it, crazy bitch! I'm outta here!"
"Get out!" her mother screeched again. "Get out!"
"Can't you fucking see I'm trying to, you old bat?! It's not like I wanna stay! I'm done with this shit!" Midari yelled back, grabbing her keys off of the kitchen table.
Her mother only yelled more but Midari drowned her out, slamming the door behind her. She could hear the muffled screams from inside the house and laughed darkly, no longer caring what she would come home to the next day. If she found her mother dead on the floor after choking on her own vomit, Midari wouldn't care at that point. Her siblings were safe at their Aunt's house and she would soon be filled in about all that has happened, so Midari didn't need to worry about them any longer. Now she only had one thing on her mind and it was Yuriko.
It was late when Yuriko heard someone knocking on the door to her dorm room. At least she didn't have a roommate who also would have been woken up. Whoever was at the door would certainly have hell to pay for waking her up. Though when she opened the door, she only caught a quick glimpse of Midari before her girlfriend clashed their lips together.
Startled, Yuriko stumbled back into her dorm and felt Midari push her against the door as soon as she shut it. She was very confused and for once did not kiss her back once she tasted blood that wasn't her own. Lips trailed down her jawline, but were not there for long when she gently pushed Midari off of her.
Yuriko's eyes widened upon seeing her teary eyed girlfriend who had a gash along her lip and a new bruise forming around her throat. She could feel her heart not only breaking from the sight, but swelling with a rage she had never felt before.
"M-Midari what's going on?" Yuriko's voice cracked.
"It doesn't matter. Just fucking kiss me," Midari blurted out, stepping closer to her. "Please, I'm begging you. I want you so bad, Yuriko."
Yuriko stopped her before she could kiss her again. She knew her girlfriend very well by now and it was a known fact that Midari used sex to run away from her problems. In most instances, Yuriko would have happily complied and knew Midari would open up to her about whatever the issue was afterwards, but she couldn't this time. She needed to know the truth immediately. Besides, Midari looked like she was on the brink of collapsing from exhaustion. Yuriko wasn't even sure Midari had enough energy to have sex in the first place.
"Not until you tell me what's happening," Yuriko pressed. "After you tell me, I promise we can do whatever you want."
Midari sighed and her posture relaxed. "Well, I got hurt."
"Yes, I can see that," Yuriko scoffed. "I knew someone has been hurting you. Who did this?"
"My mother," Midari whispered harshly.
That was perhaps the last thing Yuriko expected to hear. She had met Midari's mother once and the woman was quite small which made it hard to believe she could inflict such damage. But the evidence was there and Midari had no reason to lie now and she definitely wouldn't blame her own mother for this unless it was her doing.
"Oh," Yuriko murmured. "I'm so sorry, Midari."
"Ha, jokes on her though. I'm a fucking masochist!" Midari cackled. "But ya know... that kind of pain isn't too fun. Especially if it's inflicted by your own mother."
"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Yuriko asked, pain etching in her voice. "I... You know I'm always here and I would have helped you."
Midari chuckled softly. "These are family matters, beautiful. And although you're more of my family than my parents have ever been, you don't need to be dragged into this mess."
Yuriko used the end of her night gown to dab at the blood on Midari's lips. "I understand you only wanted to protect me, but I want to protect you too. Don't push me out for these kind of things. So please... talk to me now."
"Welp, she's been going totally nuts since my dad finally found the balls to leave her last Friday and she's been taking it out on me all weekend," Midari mumbled tiredly, walking over to Yuriko's bed and collapsed onto it. "Her drinking used to be bad, but it was never this bad. She used to hurt my dad before so now I see why the poor bastard left. For a small woman, she can really pack a punch."
Yuriko had many things she wanted to say and do. She couldn't believe Midari's mother was so cruel. If she didn't have any sense, she would have marched over to Midari's house and given her mother a piece of her mind and several slaps to the face as well. Or perhaps use Midari's gun to commit a homicide. She seriously debated on it, but she didn't want to stir anymore trouble. The best she could do for now was be there for her girlfriend.
"That's horrible," Yuriko said dryly. "We should tell the authorities about this."
Midari shrugged. "That's not my problem. I don't wanna get involved in legal shit. Me and the law don't exactly have a good history anyway."
"Even so. You have younger siblings too, right? Are they-"
Midari waved her off. "Eh, don't worry, they'll be fine. They're with my aunt right now. Hopefully she can look after them for a bit while my mom gets over this whole situation. If anything, my aunt or dad will be the one to get the police involved."
"That's good at least," Yuriko sighed with relief. "But I hope you realize I'm refusing to let you go back home now. I don't want you alone with that woman anymore."
"Trust me, I don't either," Midari whispered. "I haven't slept in three days. If I go back I know I won't get any sleep."
"Three days?" Yuriko questioned in shock.
"Yeah you heard me right," Midari snorted. "I haven't felt this tired and shitty since midterms."
"Okay that's it. You're staying with me until further notice," Yuriko commanded.
"Oh yeah?" Midari smirked, sitting up. "You even sure I'm allowed to? Kirari might not like it."
Yuriko nodded. "I don't care what the President has to say. You're a student here and I'm pretty sure she and the Secretary sleep together every night, so why aren't we allowed to spend the night in the same dorm?"
"They do more than sleeping, actually. Sayaka has been Kirari's bottom for months. Not like she wasn't willing to be before they were fucking though. You didn't hear that from me by the way," Midari grinned.
Well, Yuriko was at least happy to hear this news since it meant that Yumemi owed her and Runa ten thousand yen now. It was a bit rude for Midari to betray her friend's trust like that, but it benefited Yuriko in the end so she couldn't be too upset over it. She was certain the other Student Council members were also placing wagers on whether or not she and Midari were in a relationship too.
"Alright then, back to our other conversation," Yuriko said calmly. "You will be staying with me from now on until it's safe for you to go back home."
"Where am I gonna sleep? The floor's a bit uncomfy," Midari laughed.
Yuriko raised a brow at her. "You really believe I'm going to let you sleep on the floor?"
"Well yeah, kinda. Aren't you mad at me for keeping this from you?" Midari asked.
She was, but she no longer is. She understood why Midari was being so secretive about all of this. Though she couldn't deny she felt slightly offended that Midari didn't tell her about this right away, she wasn't mad about it. She knew Midari wasn't one who liked to express her emotions.
"No, I'm not," Yuriko sighed. "We've shared a bed before too, so why wouldn't we now?"
"Yeah, but in those cases we fucked each other senseless," Midari snickered. "As much as I would love to mess around tonight, I think I'm too tired and I'd hate to not finish what I start. You think we can we just go to sleep?"
Yuriko gave a light smile. "Considering I was already asleep before you arrived, I'm more than happy to do that."
Midari dramatically gave her puppy dog eyes and touched the tips of her two pointer fingers together. "Can I be the little spoon tonight, mommy?"
"You can, as long as you promise to never do that again," Yuriko rolled her eyes.
"What, was my Sayaka impression that bad?" Midari scoffed.
"It made me cringe," Yuriko chuckled. "Your voice impression was scarily accurate though."
Midari scoffed. "What can I say? I've known that bitch since middle school. I can recite her quotes and imitate her voice like no one else."
"She never said what you said though," Yuriko frowned.
"You sure about that? You haven't spent the night with them before," Midari cackled. "Oh!~ Mommy Kirari please, pound into my throbbing p-"
"Okay that's enough, I get it!" Yuriko interrupted with a disgusted expression. "Never say that again either."
"No problem... mommy," Midari smirked.
Yuriko glared at her for a moment. "I take it back, I'm going to kick you out."
"No, no, please, Yuriko! I've been kicked out once already tonight, let me stay," Midari pleaded.
"I can tell you're extremely sleep deprived, so I'll show mercy," Yuriko sighed. "But call me mommy one more time and I will ram my foot so far up your ass."
"Kinky, I'm down. But not tonight, babe," Midari smiled tiredly. "I just wanna sleep now."
"After you then," Yuriko hummed, gesturing to her bed.
Midari grinned and kicked off her shoes before burying herself beneath the covers. Yuriko soon joined her, instantly wrapping an arm around her and pulled her close. The bed wasn't really meant to have more than one person on it at a time, but Midari enjoyed the closeness and the warmth her girlfriend provided her with. More importantly, she knew she no longer had to suffer in silence. She could finally get the rest she so desperately needed. All while the girl she loved held her tight.