Alinea

The second day after Suzuki Aki lifted the visiting ban from the people at her school, he had returned to work mode at the insistence of his younger sister. Ara was feeling totally fine now, and it's a fact that he had a lot of backlogs at work because he chose to care for her during her critical moments at the hospital. She only had three more days to stay at the place anyway.

Before leaving for work however, Aki had given Ara a brand-new phone with the same number, since her phone was smashed during her accident. So now, she sat on her hospital bed looking at the portable phone with all her concentration.

Technically, she knew how to use it even though it's the first time she'd seen and held one in person. Still, she was nervous. When she finally decided to try and use it, it suddenly rang.

It seemed Aki had retrieved her old phone's contact information, and transferred them to the new one since the number that flashed in the caller ID was registered.

Okada Koharu.

The name actually had a lot of different meanings depending on which Kanji or Chinese character was used. But the character this girl had on her name meant "gentle heart" – a great joke, really.

Reading the name, the corner of Ara's lips turned up into a simper. As soon as Aki lifted the ban, she had been expecting this person to contact her. Sliding one slender finger across the screen to accept the call, she lifted the phone to her ear. "Yes?"

"Oh! Ara-chan, finally you picked up! We were worried the whole time," the saccharine voice filled her ear, and Ara fought the urge to gag.

Worried the whole time? Of course she's worried the whole time – worried that Ara wouldn't end up dead. The girl's probably going crazy that she survived the accident.

"Oh, really?" she replied noncommittally.

"Of course! The accident was on the news. It was so horrible we were scared you would die or be a cripple. What happened?"

Ara raised a brow. The entire time this girl was doing her chitchat, never did she ask how she was. She just wanted to fish information it seemed. But it was normal. This girl never really cared about Ara even a bit, despite claiming to be her "best friend".

"Well, you already saw what happened to the car." Her car crash was on the headlines after all.

Normally, the road where she crashed was not so busy that time. It was late at night after all. She was on the way home from school where they stayed until late to do finishing touches on their class project. But, coincidentally, there was a member of the media who "happened" to be there and reported about it. Then other rumors started flying around.

"Because of the impact, I broke a lot of bones and had other injuries," Ara continued, omitting the fact that she's totally fixed now.

"That's so horrible! You're still at the hospital, right? We're coming to see you," Koharu said hurriedly, and as Ara was expecting, she ended the call abruptly without waiting for her to speak.

She smirked. It seemed she would start paying her debt to the real Suzuki Ara days earlier than planned.

Ara lifted her hand and placed it above her heart. Originally, as Alinea, she was a beloved princess. But here, she was the scorned and betrayed girl who was supposed to be just a side character, and had no idea why she was tagged as the greatest villain of all, until that day she got in the car knowing she would die.

Ara stood up and opened the hospital closet where the clothes Aki got her were kept. She rummaged through the hanged dresses, and found a simple, white one piece. It was still January, so it's cold, but the room was well heated. It was alright for her to wear a sleeveless dress.

The real Ara, although she was pretty never really cared about how she looked – wearing whatever clothes she first got her hands on. She liked to shop, but didn't have a good sense of fashion.

But Alinea – the new Ara was different. Before she donned armor and entered the battlefield, she was a true princess with good taste.

She happily put the dress on, and combed her shoulder-length hair as she faced the mirror in the bathroom. She didn't have any make up – but none was really needed. Her skin had a natural milky-white color that glowed. Besides, since her irises changed their color to silver-grey, her long, raven lashes appeared darker, making her look like she had mascara and liner on.

In the future, she had planned to un-beautify herself so that people would leave her alone. But this was not the time to hide yet. Her appearance was part of her shield, as well as her weapon.

And the weapon would do its job today.

Knowing Okada Koharu, the – what was that term?

Ara thought for a while about the Japanese term used to describe someone who pretended to be nice and harmless, but in reality, a venomous bitch inside. Ah.

"Burikko,"Ara muttered.

Knowing Okada Koharu, she was expecting Ara to be disfigured. That girl would bring people to come "visit" her at the hospital. In reality, she wanted them to see her looking so ugly so they would be more disgusted with her.

Koharu of course would play the good girl and tell everyone to pity her in a way that would disgust and irritate them more. After all, for the people who thought she was a cold-hearted bitch, Ara just got what she deserved.

If people were disgusted with her, the poor disfigured wench would of course be easy to control wouldn't she?

Satisfied with her reflection, Ara went back into the bed and sat there to wait for her "guests" to come.

Since Suzuki Ara lost her parents and Aki got busy with the company, she had lost interest in life. She just went with the flow, not really involving herself with other people's affairs. When she entered senior high, it was Okada Koharu who had first shown interest in befriending her, and Ara, not recognizing the bad intent considered her a friend.

It was why, whenever Koharu complained to her, she would gladly help her out – not realizing she was being played with. This girl did so many things under her name – and they were all not really nice.

Suzuki Ara didn't suspect anything. She even scolded the girl she had an argument with because Koharu said she was being bullied.

Foolish lass.

Ara didn't realize that the boyfriend Koharu was talking about was actually that girl's man, and Koharu was the one who wanted to be with him forcefully. But of course she made it appear to others that it was Ara who had an interest in that boy.

Okada Koharu was crazy in love – and girls who were crazy in love were dangerous, so dangerous to the point they were ready to kill and sacrifice anyone to achieve their goal.

Days before the accident, Koharu had made peace with the boy's girlfriend. To make amends, she had invited the girl to work on the project together. As usual Ara didn't care. She was just a side character after all. Even when Koharu arranged for Ara to bring the girl home in her car after the project finished, she didn't suspect anything and just agreed.

But Suzuki Ara happened to overhear Koharu's telephone call with someone just before they went home. Koharu had ordered someone to tamper with her car and was checking with the person if it was done as they would go home soon.

Suzuki Ara was shocked. Koharu wanted to get rid of the girl, and didn't mind if Ara died with her. She had made her presence known to the other girl who was totally surprised she paled to learn she was there. But she didn't confront Koharu about it. Instead, she acted like usually, and the burikko thought Ara didn't know anything.

Until that night when she finally refused to take the girl home.

Koharu was nervous and tried her best to convince Ara to bring the girl, but Ara glared at her in warning. With that one look, Ara knew that Koharu understood that she had been found out and stopped convincing her. Then, wordlessly, Ara got in the car and drove off.

The real Ara only knew that truth. But Alinea, upon seeing her memories was able to see more to Koharu's plans. After all, all the nasty rumors came out after the accident. It wasn't a coincidence.

Okada Koharu not only planned to kill the girl, she set it up so that Ara would be blamed for her death even if she also died herself in the accident.

Her "best friend" made everyone believe that she's some "yandere" character – a crazy in love person that became mentally incapacitated and decided to off with the girlfriend of the boy she liked by dying together in a murder-suicide.

Since Ara refused to take the girl with her, the rumors were now saying that Ara changed her mind because of guilt, and decided to commit suicide alone.

"Pathetic," Ara muttered.

Suzuki Ara's name had been tarnished with mud so deep you couldn't see the bottom of it.

Anger blazed behind her silvery orbs as she raised her hand and electricity sparked in her palm, like a baby ball of lightning.

BZZZZT

Since Okada Koharu loved playing the pure heroine, Suzuki Ara would gladly play her greatest villain. After all, in this world where only humans lived, there's no better person to play the antagonist other than a very angry demigod.