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“Be the ones they make merit for… or throw leftovers for.
Be the ornaments that make them look like good people…
but never be accepted as one of their kind.”
Yuri knows Nanno does not see her as an equal.
Her rebirth had been nothing but a whim – she had simply been a mere mortal who managed to pique Nanno’s interest long enough that she deigned herself to give her something for her own entertainment.
Yuri is not stupid enough to delude herself into believing her rebirth had been an act of mercy or one out of kindness.
Thus, she knows that there is no reason for her to feel any gratitude or reverence towards her creator.
People like Nanno… Yuri is intimately familiar with them. She knows that just like Nana and Tubtim, Nanno sees her as her inferior.
And just like these rich girls, she would punish Yuri if she ever dared to step out of line because of course, someone like her is not allowed to go against people of higher status – people with worth, unlike her.
A pathetic, bitter laugh escapes her as Yuri steps on the lifeless bodies to make her way out of the basement.
The vacant eyes of her former tormentors watch as she leaves them behind.
They are gone now.
She’s had her revenge – and she would have joined them in their grave if it weren’t for Nanno.
Is that it? Now, instead of a stupid, poor human girl serving the rich, I am now supposed to be the immortal pet of Nanno?
Yuri slams the door behind her.
No.
No more.
Never again.
She’s had enough of being subservient to others. Enough of girls – be they immortal or not – thinking they were better than her, thinking they could use her as they liked simply because they had more money, more influence, more power than her.
“Yuri, do you want to be a dog forever?”
She’s never been a dog.
She acted her part because she had her own plan, her own strategy for retribution.
Yuri is so sick of it.
“Or do you want to be an owner?
If you want to be an owner, do you want my help?”
“No!” Yuri sneers, in a near-delirious frenzy as the blood in her howls and whines.
Each word Nanno has said to her keeps echoing in her head, her poisonous voice refusing to leave her be.
“Woof, woof.”
A sound – more scream than laughter, as unnatural and sickening as her honey-dripped proposal had been – usurps the silence of the basement.
If Yuri had earnestly taken up her offer for help, what difference would that have made? She would have simply exchanged owners.
She would have remained a servant, forced to be in debt towards the new girl now.
Offering to help her was arrogant condescension, pure and simple. It was another way of self-satisfaction, of patting herself on the shoulder for playing the white knight for the poor, helpless, pitiful princess. Protect the poor victim against the terrible beast – it was a typical tale anyone liked to hear.
Fuck that.
Rather than be saved, Yuri would prefer to be the beast – to be the one with the power to inflict pain instead of the one always receiving it.
“Thank you, Nanno, for offering me help. But I’m sorry… a girl like me doesn’t need any help. I want a victim.”
If Nanno hadn’t appeared, another girl would have taken her place as Yuri’s victim. Really, anyone would have been good enough to fill out this role.
Yuri knew, she knew, that if Nanno had been anyone else, an innocent girl would have been sacrificed for her plans.
It would have been a girl like Yuri once was, naïve and undeserving of the pain that came to be inflicted upon her.
But I don’t care.
I don’t care because I’m no longer that girl.
For too long, Yuri had been weak.
But now? With this blood in her veins, Yuri knows she’s one of the powerful.
But not at the top.
There is still one other being in the world who was above her, someone who could harm her.
And she can’t stand it.
She can’t stand the thought of ever being vulnerable again. A pathetic little being, cowering in the corner, praying that no further pain will come their way.
It won’t be like last time – Yuri won’t sit and wait until it was too late, she won’t stand still in the hope the powerful will spare her.
This time, she will make sure that revenge won’t even be necessary.
(Because revenge means it’s too late.
Revenge means you were weak in the past.
Revenge points to a past failure.)
Yuri watches as Nanno’s newest target, Kaye, repeatedly kicks the dog on the ground, taking out his frustrations on the animal as it is leashed and unable to run away.
She watches and watches, and with each kick, she winces against her will.
Then, Nanno steps in.
Of course.
Because after all, this is her stage. Her territory.
Nanno cares for the animal, at least as far as it can serve its usefulness in her game.
Yuri watches the despair dawn onto Kaye as he realizes what Nanno plans to do, as he sees her remove the dog’s leash and letting it run away.
Yuri watches them both – the dog, as it runs into freedom, and Kaye, as he is put into the cage Nanno has prepared for him.
“Yuri, do you want to be a dog forever?”
.
The dog doesn’t run far, it seems. In fact, Yuri spots it trudging not far from where Nanno plays catch with Kaye, its fur filthy and scruffy from the hours away from human care.
Before she realizes what she is doing, Yuri is standing in front of it. The dog stares up at her with its dark eyes, whining slightly as it wags its tail. It looks pathetic and miserable as it vies for her affection, desperately hoping that she would throw it a bone to gnaw on.
Yuri kneels in front of the dog and holds out her hand. Immediately, the dog trots to her and licks the palm of her hand, letting out a small whine again as it puts the weight of its head on her hands.
“You’ve finally gotten off your leash, Lucky,” Yuri sighs, recalling the name the students have given that dog. She gently scratches it behind its ears, her fingers stroking through its fur. “Why did you come back?”
The dog only further wags its tail, happy with the small specks of attention it’s receiving from her.
“You’re quite loyal to your owners, aren’t you?” Yuri mumbles, as she notices how the dog’s eyes light up when the voices of the other students are carried over by the wind.
A voice she has not heard in a long time, and will never ever have to hear ever again, forces its way to her mind.
“Yuri, betraying us? No way. She’s like a dog who’s loyal to her owner.”
Her hand doesn’t stop, but Yuri becomes dimly aware of how her entire body becomes rigid. She doesn’t stop, even as her hands start to tighten their grip on the dog’s head.
A loud crack would have echoed through the air but Yuri absorbs all noises around her, too preoccupied by how loud the blood rushing in her ears are. The sound of the bone breaking would have only annoyed her further, so she stomps it down, further and further down until the sound dies out by itself before it even enters the world.
Like everything since her rebirth, this comes to her naturally – even though seconds before this moment, Yuri had been unaware she is even capable of manipulating the sounds made by other creatures. Yet, just as the wounds during the accident caused by Minnie suddenly disappeared from her body, Yuri acts out of pure instinct and it happens as she wills it.
The sheer power she now wields is bewildering, and her human mind is still playing catch up to all the new things she can do now.
Yet, as the first blood splatters hit her skin, the wailing in her blood still refuses to quiet down.
It’s not enough.
Kaye is still alive.
Nanno is still there.
And Yuri? Is a stupid mutt really the only thing beneath her here?
She removes the dog’s blood from her, letting its fluid collect itself in her palms and then dropping it back onto the still body on the ground, her hands now unblemished.
Disgusting.
.
With a loud thud, she tosses the bloody corpse into the direction of the crowd, laughing as she accuses Kaye of the dog’s death.
Nanno’s searing, pitch-black eyes stare at her, her face unimpressed.
“This is a very low-class method.”
Images of Nana and Tubtim sneering at her cheap, low-quality belongings impose themselves in her mind.
Yuri continues to smile, undeterred.
Fuck off. You don’t get to decide.
Perhaps as a human, Yuri would have felt a shred of sympathy for Jane.
Or perhaps, even then, things would have remained the same.
It is exhilarating, being the one who holds the reins. The one with the power.
For the first time, there is a crack in the composure of perfect and untouchable Nanno.
For the first time, Yuri manages to land a meaningful blow on her creator.
For the first time, Yuri is no longer Nanno’s inferior.
And it won’t be the last time.