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The summer air is hot, even at night not dipping below seventy degrees. And while outside it provides warmth like a blanket, inside it just makes the rooms stale and uncomfortable. Even the saving grace of fans can't quite cull its wrath.
Luka is downstairs, drinking water since the heat has been keeping her awake. Something—other than the cold water hitting her empty stomach—is making her nauseous. A glint in the reflection of the metal faucet, an unusual creak in the floorboards, although the person breaking in is far more conspicuous.
For anyone sleeping in their room, the intruder tumbling through the kitchen window and falling onto the ground is inaudible, but it's very obvious to Luka.
Of course, they only could've come in this way, as every other window was locked. But who would bother to squeeze through the small opening above the stove just to get into a clearly occupied house? Someone desperate.
Once her conscious confirms to her subconscious that what's in front of her isn't an animal, she opens her mouth to scream, but that urge is cut off by the form clumsily pointing a kitchen knife at her.
"Be quiet."
They mutter as they stumble to their feet. They're wearing a black hoodie, sunglasses and a face mask to hide their identity.
"What are you doing awake?!"
She opens her mouth but has no words. The only complete sentence in her head is I'm about to die.
She almost begins to form a sentence, but is cut off by their whispered response.
"Whatever. I'm not here for you anyway. Just be quiet."
They grab her arm and pull her upstairs as she tries to think of an escape to her predicament.
"What are you doing in my house?!"
She whispers it for fear of being stabbed but is shushed by them anyway.
"I'm not here for you, so it's none of your concern." The pause for a moment.
"You know what? You know this house better than me. Where's Yi Xi?" She hesitates, the knife they're holding obviously isn't just to be threatening. When she gives them no response, they insist.
"Where is she?!" They point the knife at her neck.
She backs against the banister.
"You said you wouldn't hurt me."
"I said I wasn't here for you."
She pauses for a second, her mouth quivering.
"She's not home right now." She can't quite tell since their face is obscured, but they don't seem to believe her. Neither of them say anything for a couple of seconds, and finally the intruder comes to a resolve.
"Fine. If you're not going to help me, I don't need you."
They come at her with the knife.
"Wait—"She says as they're about to attack her. "—She's—upstairs."
"Where?"
The dilemma of whether she should sacrifice herself for her friend isn't something she can think through rationally at the moment. Most would say they would in an instant, but most aren't living the dilemma.
"She's not home!"
She can't bring herself to rat out her friend. Even if she survives this, the guilt would eat her alive. She glances at Yi Xi's door compulsively a couple times, trying to see if there are any signs that give away it's hers, perhaps.
"Luka, I don't want to hurt you."
"But you'd kill Yi Xi?"
They're breathing heavily looking into her eyes. They pause, finally listening to her, they're going to find reason. Who in their right mind would kill an innocent woman? They glance behind them for a short second, Luka realizes they've been following her gaze.
"Is that her room?" They look at her door.
"No–" but the question was rhetorical. They grab her wrist and pull her with them, almost as an afterthought.
"Stop, I told you it's not hers." her voice is rising in volume, the quiet whispers cracking in her desperation.
They shush her again, then crack the door, peering inside to make sure they have the right person.
Yi Xi is asleep, draped over her bed like a thin sheet, not a care to be suspected of her.
"Please don't hurt her."
They turn from the object of their fixation, presumably to chew her out, but both their attentions are drawn back to the room at the sound of her stirring. Unlike the sleeping bear in cartoons, though, she seems to be waking up.
The intruder shoves her towards the small opening in the door, pressing the dull kitchen knife to her back.
"Tell her why you woke her up—just say something." They sound panicked.
Yi Xi rubs her eyes, confused, mostly because she knows she's quite the heavy sleeper. The last time she woke up this late at night was when someone broke into her house. She hopes that's the case this time, it takes the hassle out of finding people to kill.
She starts to reach for a knife in her bedside drawer when she notices the true nature of what woke her up: Luka.
"Hey, Yi Xi." She's whispering, and although the whole house is dark, it's hard not to notice how terrified she looks.
"Hey, Luka..?" Speaking of the dark, it's odd how she didn't bother to turn on the light either. She's about to crack a joke about Luka watching her sleep, when the latter begins to talk again.
"I was just texting, uhm, Ruko about you, well not about you, just some stuff. But you came up, and they wanted me to tell you, I mean, check on how you were." She's nodding exaggeratedly
Yi Xi stares blankly at Luka for a couple of seconds.
"But you-" cut off contact with Ruko ages ago. But Luka knows that, and Luka knows Yi Xi knows that. No, there's something far more sinister happening.
"—You should be sleeping." she continues, "Tell them I'm feeling tired since you woke me up. Go to sleep, Luka."
She nods then glances behind her for a split second.
"Goodnight." Luka shushes her silently as she's closing the door. Killing intruders is usually easy, since they're much less experienced with knives than Yi Xi, but if there's anyone who doesn't know how to defend themself in this situation, it's Luka. Yi Xi grabs her knife and moves toward the door quietly, she presses her ear to it and tries to hear the second person. Neither is talking, but completely masking two pairs of footsteps is impossible, especially in this creaky house. A part of her aches to kill the person herself, but given what Luka said, she resists it.
The intruder probably isn't looking for Luka, anyway.
"How long will it take her to fall asleep again?" The intruder seems frightened, less scared than being caught while they broke in, even.
"What? Oh, uhm, fifteen minutes?" She lies.
"We'll wait thirty."
While waiting, the two of them sit at the dining table. The intruder keeps their knife on the table as a reminder, but their gaze is averted from Luka. The manner of them being pacifistic sometimes and homicidal otherwise unnerves her, she isn't sure what might set them off again.
The timer on the stove glows 12:26, and while the minutes jump over each other while she's busy in the kitchen, thirty minutes seems intolerable in this circumstance.
They seem to be lost in their thoughts, so are startled when Luka asks:
"It's a nice night, huh?"
And while scaring them was on her list of things to not do, they don't seem incredibly bothered by it. Instead of getting angry, they sigh.
"Yep."
She continues.
"I was up getting water, because it's so hot. I never have enough fans for days like these."
The intruder remains silent.
"Although being up at night always makes me sort of lonely, you know, I start to feel less like myself." They turn their head towards her, although their arms remain by their chest. Meanwhile, the grip on their knife tightens.
"You haven't done anything irreversible yet, in fact, if you go home right now, I'd have no way to know who you are."
They turn fully towards her.
"I didn't break into your house for a lecture, Luka."
"She has people that care about her, I can attest to that. You're not just hurting her if you do this."
They throw their head back.
"Does she, now?"
Luka takes a breath to calm her shaking hands.
"I can tell you're a good person. K- doing this will haunt you forever, it's not too late."
They sigh, shaking their head.
"I don't want to hurt you, really, but don't try to meddle with something you don't understand."
Desperation creeps up her throat. How could this criminal want to hurt an innocent then pretend to be the victim?
"Don't just act all mysterious then, tell me, what justification could you have for doing this?!"
This seems to anger them, but they don't take it out on her.
"You want to know? Fine, but I don't expect you to believe me."
They take a deep breath, as if they're preparing for a long rambling.
"Yi Xi killed my wife."
There's a pause, she expects them to go on, but they stop. Luka stutters in disbelief.
"What?"
They don't bother elaborating, the idea that she wouldn't believe the explanation acting like a self fulfilling prophecy, but with some prodding they concede to provide more context.
"I was getting ready to leave my house, for a meeting I was running late to. Then I heard her screaming. I was the victim of a break in years earlier, so the home security system let me know what was happening. I..."
They tense up.
"Well, I was scared, so I hid in the closet, and then she came in to look for me."
They stop abruptly, Luka opens her mouth to say something, but they continue unprompted.
"She—Laura, looked horrible, but your oh so dear friend wasn't far behind. I watched her die. I had to hide in the crawlspace, because don't think she didn't try looking for me."
A darkness creeps over their face.
"She didn't just kill her, she mutilated her body, desecrating whatever memories I had. Yi Xi took everything that was dear to me, so don't weep poetic about how this might hurt you."
That's not true. That's the first thing that comes into Luka's mind when the story is finished. She's hesitant to think the person is lying, because there's no need to win over someone you're threatening with a knife, but Yi Xi would never kill someone.
"I'm sorry for your loss."
Luka takes a breath.
"But, is it not possible that you misremembered the person's face? Especially since your view was obstructed."
They grab their face with their free hand.
"I knew it!" They repeat the phrase to themself over and over again.
"You all really say the same thing."
She knows Yi Xi better than anyone, and this isn't true. The mere assertion that this random person could know something like this and she wouldn't frustrates her, and the idea that Yi Xi might die because of a misunderstanding like this frustrates her even more.
"Even if it was her, you know killing her won't bring your wife back, right?"
They stop moving entirely, and although sunglasses make it seem like the wearer is looking at you at all times, it's clear this person has their attention completely on Luka. They get up and start walking towards her, then grab her wrist, yanking her to her feet.
"No, it won't, and neither will killing you. But I think you should get to know how it feels to have the person you care about most in this world die in front of you while you can do nothing."
The other drags her upstairs again with reckless abandon, only caring to quiet down once they approach Yi Xi's room, all the while Luka begs them to stop.
"Wait, wait—" She says. "You, more than anyone would understand, please," but the pleas fall on deaf ears. They shush her one last time as they open the door and creep into her room. Luka's struggling is fruitless if she can't even save Yi Xi, she opens and closes her mouth several times, unsure what she could say to dissuade them without making their anger worse. Her heart pounds in her chest, watching the person stand over Yi Xi's sleeping form. Hopelessness and dread creep over her as she waits for something to happen. Surely she won't actually die, not at only twenty five.
They raise their knife to barely their own shoulder level, their hands shaking almost as much as Luka's. As the knife comes down, blood covers Yi Xi, her chest and arms drenched like she fell in a vat of it.
But it's not hers.
Because the knife that came down wasn't the woman's, it was the one Yi Xi was hiding under herself. The woman's knife never meets Yi Xi's flesh.
She springs out of bed, glancing at Luka for a second before lunging at the person, now on the ground. The woman hardly cares to hide her identity anymore, madly slashing in an attempt to survive, but she's inexperienced, as they all are, and her knife fits uncomfortably in her hand. Yi Xi is easily able to pin her against the wall and retrieve her own knife from the other's chest. She doesn't stop to confirm with Luka before stabbing the woman in the neck until she stops moving.
She's breathing heavily, her hands shaking, but she doesn't look scared. Finally, she turns back to Luka and seems to snap out of it.
"Shit. I di- It was self defense! You saw her knife!"
Yi Xi rushes toward Luka, she flinches.
"It was self defense!" She repeats.
Luka stares at the body in horror. The darkness makes the scene hard to make out, but the moonlight streaming through Yi Xi's bedroom window illuminates all the blood pouring from the woman well enough.
"Yi Xi, what the—?!"
She covers her mouth to stop herself from screaming.
"Wha- Did you want me to just let her kill me?! Were you even going to help me?"
"No!" She grabs her hair. "But you didn't have to kill her!"
Yi Xi shrugs defensively.
"Oh, right, I should've just told her to please not hurt me. These people aren't reasonable!"
Luka knows she's right, in a way, but it seems cruel.
"You didn't have to- you didn't..." she trails off.
Yi Xi walks to the body, then clasps her hands together.
"You have to he-" but she pauses in the middle of the sentence.
"We should call the police." She says it like it's a rehearsed line. Luka fumbles for her phone silently, but Yi Xi much more gracefully grabs her own.
She stands silently as the ringing fills the room. She's standing casually, a stark pose to have in front of a dead body.
"Hi, yes—" she tells them their address, "A criminal broke into my house and tried to kill me, she's dead now."
A brief pause.
"No, she bled out, I don't think that will... Okay. If you say so."
She exasperatedly glances at Luka.
"Do you know how to do CPR? This lady's sa-"
She's interrupted by the door swinging open, the loud commotion awakening others in the house. Case in point, Rin.
"What the hell's going on in here? I heard- Holy shit! Holy shit! Yi Xi?!"
"It's not what it looks like!" Luka yells, spared from the accusation like she was the splatter of blood.
"Is that woman..?!"
"Yes I killed her—" her tone is defensive again.
"—but she broke in, she was trying to kill me first!"
"Don't say it like that!"
"Shut up, Luka!"
"You actually killed her?!"
All the yelling wakes up Miku as well, which just makes the arguing and commotion ten times worse. Luka, who previously was hurling her own accusations is now defending Yi Xi, and while no one is exactly blaming her, they're all still yelling at her.
"I have to talk to the operator right now, so either argue somewhere else, or make yourself useful." She says, once each person's silence finally matches to a point where they can hear her.
"You can't possibly reduce this to arguing when there's someone dead now." Miku says, and the same sentiment is repeated by Rin in a slightly different way. Yi Xi, who doesn't understand why she's still being argued with, simply replies:
"If you would rather it be me who was dead just say that."
There's a beat of silence from all parties before Yi Xi runs out of the room, mumbling something about the front door. Rin follows her, while Luka and Miku stay where they are, focused on the corpse in the middle of the room rather than the argument.
There's silence for a couple of minutes. The blood on the woman's body is drying and turning darker, as if they needed any more confirmation she's dead.
Luka realizes that for the events of tonight to have conspired, Yi Xi would need to have a knife on her at all times, that theory still holds up, since the blade that was previously in the woman's neck is gone.
"Should we help her?"
Miku breaks the silence, as staring at a dead body without saying anything for as long as they have feels wrong.
"I don't want to touch her." Luka mumbles.
While it's true that the manner in which she died was brutal, it's impossible to deny what she did leading up to it.
"She almost killed me."
Did she deserve death? Was killing her necessary after the first attack? These questions trouble her the most, but they'll likely never get definite answers.
Miku grimaces in an odd way.
"Wait, so what happened? Why is this all..?"
Luka sighs. The events have been running through her head all night, but vocalizing them is a completely different task.
Downstairs, Yi Xi is having a completely unproductive conversation with the paramedics. Answering questions while getting yelled at is hardly an easy task.
"Don't just walk away from me!"
Rin is a couple steps behind her, so she catches Yi Xi in the middle of her conversation.
"Leave me alone."
She turns back to the paramedic.
"As I was saying, she attacked me first."
He nods.
"I see. The-"
"Did she?"
Rin stands, waiting, letting the words speak for themselves.
Yi Xi appears angrier.
"I didn't realize you were there. Why am I bothering to explain what happened?"
"The-" he tries to get a word in, but is cut off again.
"It doesn't take a genius."
Yi Xi gestures for her to go on.
"I'm all ears."
Rin stutters for a moment.
"It doesn't matter what, you're acting like murdering someone is a daily occurrence."
And while arguing is annoying enough, there's something particularly grating about being accused of having no humanity.
"Maybe I don't really care if I killed someone." She grimaces, then quickly adds on,
"If they're a bad person."
"You can't be serious."
After a second, another paramedic comes down from upstairs. Luka and Miku are on the banister talking. Yi Xi notices that Luka's not being blamed nearly as much as her.
"Yep, she's dead."
Immediately Yi Xi feels Rin's eyes on her.
"Who's fault is that?" She mutters.
"Yelling at me isn't going to bring her back."
Yi Xi growls.
"I'm trying to-"
For once it's Rin being interrupted. "Hey! Why don't you two get some space for now? Talk this out later?" Begrudgingly, she walks away with the other paramedic.
The first turns back to face Yi Xi, a sigh escaping his lips.
"As I was saying, the police are a bit late, but they'll probably want to question you a bit. It's all routine. They'll want surveillance footage, if you have it."
She nods, a far off look about her.
"I don't suppose they can use apathy as evidence? This was clearly self defense."
He considers for a moment, reassurance never appearing on his face.
"It might help you to be a little sympathetic."
Luka and Miku are half watching the scene downstairs and half not. And while the police aren't there to block the room off, they've still been kicked out of it.
"–Anyway, I wasn't exactly prepared for her to immediately jump on the woman."
Luka purses her lips.
"She didn't even hesitate."
There's an uncomfortable air between them for a moment.
"She was probably scared. It's... I don't think we should ruminate on it."
Luka has to look away to hide her expression. She isn't scared now and wasn't then. It was more like she was on autopilot, if that's possible when doing such a thing.
"I get where you're coming from now, though. I just don't understand how people do things like that."
While the whole night has been taking turns churning in Luka's head, the conversation she had with the woman is what stands out to her then. She was so sure in that moment that Yi Xi would never kill anyone, but thinking of that resolve she had, it seems foolish.
It was dark, and it happened very quickly, but that doesn't change the fact that she did kill someone with little prompting.
She probably saw the woman's knife and used that to confirm the action, but she was moving before she could've seen it.
A chill runs down Luka's spine. If she hadn't been overtly threatening Yi Xi, would she have still gone through with it?
She looks at the scene below, and finds herself seeing a concerned woman asking a paramedic for reassurance. Of course she wouldn't.
Miku leans against the banister, scrunching her eyes closed.
"God, this has been a hell of a night. How is it even possible? Aren't break-ins supposed to be rare?"
She turns her attention back to Miku.
"Sometimes life just throws stuff at you, I guess."
They might not be so rare if the intruder has a reason. Luka feels the urge to keep the motive to herself, even though she knows it's not true.
At this point, a couple police cars finally roll up. An officer walks in and immediately complains about being tired.
"Oh my god," Luka says, "are they arresting her?"
She turns to Miku, gripping the banister.
"But she didn't really do anything wrong, right?"
"No... I think, well she did still kill someone, but..." She trails off and doesn't bother to pick up.
At this point, a couple officers have scaled the stairs and are sluggishly investigating the bedroom. A particularly bored looking woman approaches them.
"I have to get both of your statements, please."
They glance at each other.
"Right now?"
"Separately."
There's little place for privacy with so many people milling about, so they go into the living room corner and talk over the noise. Luka recites her story for the second time that night, after hearing her statement, the officer asks her a couple follow up questions, but overall it moves smoothly.
"And you're sure she had full intention to kill?"
"Yes! She didn't even try to steal anything, just asked me where her room was..."
"But no motive?"
Luka purses her lips.
"No."
There's no need to complicate this situation, she knows it's not true, there's nothing more to it.
"So your name is Yi Xi? for the record."
Even though she knows why she's here, It's hard for her to not be suspicious. She goes at length to avoid the hospital, not to mention the branch that will actively try to pin something on her.
"Couldn't this have been done back at my house?"
"It's just for privacy. Please confirm your name." Her flat tone of voice makes this seem routine, it would be fitting for her to be holding a script.
"Yes, that's my name."
She mutters.
The woman tilts her head upwards.
"Now, can you tell me what happened tonight?"
For a murder to be classified as self defense, she, at the very least, has to show that causing death was proportionate to how she was being attacked. It's a loophole she's considered exploiting before, but abandoned it due to how convoluted it is to prove, case in point, tonight.
"I was sleeping, and then Luka woke me up. She was acting weird and talking nonsensically, I figured something was wrong, so I grabbed-" her first instinct being grab a knife might be unusual.
"Well, I listened at my door to hear if anything was going on, and I heard a person I didn't recognize. Then I grabbed my knife and pretended to be asleep. Luka had told me to be quiet, which is why I didn't want to try to save her then." It wouldn't make much sense for her to know the intruder was targeting her, but it makes her hiding seem cowardish.
"Then when I heard the two coming into my room, I-" A loud alarm goes off from the interviewer's phone.
She fumbles with it for a second, then returns with a blank expression
"Continue"
Yi Xi blinks for a moment, stunned. It's so late at night that her mind is lagging behind, so she has to take a second to remember what she was saying.
"As I was saying, I heard them come into my room, so I—" have to make sure the intruder was an actual threat before attacking, "—turned around to see her holding a knife, and that's when I killed her."
"And by her you mean..?"
"The intruder?" As if saying I killed her didn't make it obvious.
There's a short pause.
"So you stabbed her in the neck first?"
"No, well, I wasn't really at the right height for that. I stabbed her in the chest to disarm her."
The woman nods.
"So then why did you stab her in the neck?"
It feels like a simple question, but she has the suspicion to kill her is the wrong answer.
"She was still a threat, still holding the knife, and would clearly stop at nothing to kill me."
The interviewer opens a folder on the table and glances at it.
"Seven times is a bit overkill, no?"
Obviously not.
"You must've really wanted her dead."
She ignores the bait extended to her, glaring at the interviewer with disdain.
"Can you tell me again why you didn't call 911 when you were first suspicious of an intruder?"
Calling 911 at first didn't even cross her mind. Even after she killed the intruder, the first thing she thought of was how to hide the body.
"Luka told me to be quiet, so I didn't want to make the situation worse."
The woman stares at her for a couple of seconds. She gets the urge to add on more, but resits it.
"So you didn't call the police when you suspected there was someone in your house, grabbed a knife instead, and when attacked you stabbed the attacker once, decided it wasn't enough, and stabbed her seven more times?"
That's a way to put it. She doubts responding in any way will help her.
"I see."
They sit in silence for a couple more seconds while the interviewer appears to be sizing her up.
"That must've been shocking, right? Killing someone is nothing to scoff at, even in these circumstances."
"Yeah."
The societal obsession with death doesn't make sense to her. She'd better manufacture some hard feelings about this quickly.
"That wasn't how it sounded over the phone. It seemed callous, even."
She gestures towards phone records.
"It takes time for this to process, you should know that better than anyone." She nearly scoffs.
"Really? So how are you feeling now?"
"Bad." Yi Xi nods, as if she was affirming her own answer.
"Care to elaborate? These records are private."
"Sure, the woman I killed was an integral part of society, and I unfairly took that part away. It was selfish, since she had so much left to contribute." The interviewer squints at her oddly. The implication that her motives are clear solely based on how she talks about people's value annoys her.
It's not that she doesn't believe people's lives have value, it's just that there are far more important things than someone's individuality when considering it. Why is she expected to hesitate to kill someone who attacks her? The insistent need for her to feel bad for what she did is a task that plagues her.
After some time, she changes the subject, showing her an image.
"I don't suppose you're familiar with the news. Recognize this man?"
It's a generic man, short beard, straight nose, brown eyes. It could pass off as a stock photo if the lighting was better.
"No?"
She continues showing her photos, some ring a bell, but not in the forefront of her mind.
"These people were all murdered in the past couple of years, and while the method of killing is different, the blade is a perfect match."
The sudden right turn in conversation startles her a bit. Of course, she doesn't recognize any of the people, but she wouldn't have expected herself to. There are far more important things than a face to remember when you're eating someone.
"The blade? I got my knife from the store down the road, I'm sure many people have the same one."
She shrugs.
"Maybe, maybe not. But having more experience would explain why you were able to win that little knife fight, especially after being caught off guard."
Yi Xi scowls.
"Are we done here? I told you what happened already."
The interviewer nods slowly.
"Just one more thing, and I'll send you home."
She takes a slow breath.
"It's obvious that there's some sort of correlation here, and as long as they're unsolved, the risk of that correlation being uprooted only gets higher. If you admit to it now, I can get you a lighter sentence."
As if! Threatening prison and acting like it's an act of compassion should be a crime itself.
"Is that all?"
"Yep." The interviewer gets up and grabs the recording device on the way. On the way out, she holds the door open for the woman behind her, like that the faux argument was a game that is now over.
"See you soon!"
The lady calls out, as Yi Xi's is wondering how she'll get home.
Luka is sitting on her bed, staring into the empty space of her room. There's something so awful about how the worst memories stick in your head the best, and with it happening only a couple hours earlier, the event is still vivid.
There's a small commotion downstairs, but as the night has been nothing if not commotion, Luka doesn't notice Yi Xi until she's leaning on the doorframe. She jumps a bit when she notices her.
"You're home!" She clutches her chest, very tired of surprises.
"I thought they'd... Arrested you?"
She sighs.
"They did. I had to ask some guy for a ride home, but that was better than walking."
"So you hitchhiked?"
Luka turns her head, concern and confusion on her face.
"Isn't that dangerous?"
Yi Xi shrugs.
"If they attack me I can just kill them, right?"
She laughs like it's funny. Luka gives her a bizarre look between horror and disgust.
"Too soon?"
Yi Xi shrugs and walks into Luka's room, sitting on her bed beside her.
"So, I don't think I'll be able to sleep in there for a little bit, and you have a lot of room in here."
She eyes Luka, waiting for a response. Suddenly, she cups her head in her hands, leaning on her knees.
"Is that seriously all you care about right now?"
Yi Xi is taken aback.
"I thought we were done with accusations!"
"Look at you!"
She gestures to Yi Xi.
"You're covered in blood, her blood, and you don't even care. How do you sleep at night?"
Yi Xi ignores the question.
"Speaking of sleeping at night..?"
Luka cups her hands in her head aggressively.
"I can't believe you!"
She faces Yi Xi, hurling her word directly at her.
"You're acting so casual, I watched someone die!"
"She was trying to kill me!"
She throws her hands up.
"That's not- I know it's not your fault, but she- she was a person too!"
Yi Xi shakes her head.
"So am I?"
"No, I mean that she was her own person, she had hopes and dreams. She had a wife!"
The intruder's wife. A kill so forgettable it would've slipped her mind if not for the reminder tonight.
Yi Xi's casual tone skinks away, an unnerved one replacing it.
"How do you know that?"
"She told me."
She looks directly at her.
"Told you?"
"She told me you killed her!" Luka yells.
Yi Xi decides she needs to be standing.
"You know that's a lie!
"Do I?" She clenches her teeth.
"Because as far as I'm concerned, you'd be excited to."
"Excited? She was trying to kill me!"
Yi Xi is holding her hands together like someone who's trying to stop themself from talking animatedly.
"Someone who was hesitating wouldn't go as far as you did."
Yi Xi grabs her face and turns away from Luka momentarily.
"You don't seriously think I killed her wife."
She says once she turns back around.
"I don't know at this point."
"Seriously?"
She examines Lukas face as if it might be a joke.
"You're acting like you don't even care about what happened tonight!"
She shakes her head.
"I was protecting myself, I was protecting you!"
Luka sits up straighter.
"Well–"
Yi Xi cuts her off.
"Where would you be if I hadn't stepped in? It wouldn't be that criminal in the morgue."
Luka stares at her, unable to form words.
"I saved your ass tonight, and all I get is blamed for it! You said she almost killed you, guess who else she almost killed!"
"It's just–"
She finds the words but isn't allowed to finish.
"God forbid I try to protect someone who would rather kill themself than someone holding a gun to their temple."
She takes a breath.
"If you'd rather I'd never killed that woman, fine, but don't say that and not think about the consequences of it."
Yi Xi's breathing is heavy and fast, she looks at Luka for another response she can tear apart.
"I'm sorry."
"No I'm sorry for bothering to help you, when all you want to do is harp on the face I was making while saving your life."
Luka's shoulders are tense.
"Really, I'm sorry."
Yi Xi scowls.
"Don't worry about me. I can sleep on the couch."
She turns around to leave, but stops for another word.
"I'm going to shower, since processing the fact I killed someone is apparently less important than keeping my appearance up."
She leaves the room without another word, closing the door carefully on her way out.
Of course, this has been a hard night for Luka, but who has it been the hardest for but the woman who'd killed someone?
She thinks back to earlier when she was talking to Miku on the banister, seeing a concerned Yi Xi asking the paramedics for reassurance, that woman's no murderer, this was all an unfortunate accident. She was wrong to blame her for so long, everyone processes trauma differently.
Yi Xi stares at herself in the mirror, her features obscured by blood. At her very core, she can't remember the last time she felt bad for something like this.
Now is different. That argument with Luka made her think deeper than she ever had.
She got much too close to finding out.