The Taming of the Yandere

I started to plan in my head.

Judging from Jiang Muqing’s symptoms, I should go to the root of her problems. I decided on a surefire way to cure her.

I hope that I can tame her just by using this one plan. I was confident in my hunches.

The general tactic was this.

Didn’t Jiang Muqing say that there’s no one that cares about her? Then I’ll get more people to do just that, and distract her attention on me, to other people. That way, I can move further away from her, and we’ll return to a regular cla.s.smate relationship.

There are two ways to achieve this.

The first was a calm and gradual approach.

I’ll help her make some friends that she can chat with, and help her develop her own hobbies and interests. Next, she’ll make some closer friends, and some real progress will be made. Jiang Muqing will slowly break away from her dependency on me.

The second was a sudden and aggressive approach.

I’ll recreate an event similar to the building roof incident that brought us together. Another person will save her, and she’ll understand that other people will save her, not because they care, like, and love her, but because it was a pure, good-hearted act.

Using the pacifist method, I’ll have to introduce her some friends, or suggest some of my own personal hobbies for her to try. This plan was sensible to act upon, at the moment.

As for the aggressive one, I don’t have any thoughts yet on how to recreate a similar, dangerous situation without any fatal factors. There weren’t any people I have in mind to save her, either.

….

I used the time spent lolling on the bus to draw some general conclusions about Jiang Muqing. I started to think, was I a bit too direct with her this morning? My heart stirred uncomfortably.

Will she have some negative reaction, and start drawing pentagrams cursing Xue?

What if she used a cleaver on my mother because she tried to stop her?

It shouldn’t get too messy, even though Mom was an indoor person, her physique should be stronger than Jiang Muqing. In a one-on-one fight, she shouldn’t be able to hurt Mom.

What if the girl sneaks up on Mom?

….

I didn’t want to think further; I should get home as fast as possible.

After getting off the bus, I ran full speed to my neighborhood.

The area was peaceful and quiet. The guard at the gate yawned, and sipped his tea while reading the newspaper.

Nothing seemed wrong, at least there weren’t any flashing police cars.

I waved at the guard, and rushed to my apartment building.

At this hour, our building’s residents have already turned on their lights. Only one window on the fifth floor was pitch-black.

That was my house’s window.

Strange, my mother should have turned on the lights at this time?! My heart swayed in feat.

I didn’t even stop to catch my breath, and dashed up the stairs. I lifted my fist to knock on the door, but the door was open.

It was open?!

The door is open?!

Even if Jiang Muqing didn’t do anything, having our front door wide open like this isn’t normal at all. Was there a burglary?

I felt for the light switch in the darkness. I flicked it a couple times, but nothing happened.

“Mom?”

I shouted at her room.

Nothing.

“Jiang Muqing?”

I yelled at my dad’s office.

Nothing.

What’s happening?!

“Mom, where are you?”

I ran into the house, like a lamb that couldn’t find its mother. I crashed everywhere through the house, and broke into my mother’s bedroom like a madman. Nothing was ruined as I imagined, everything was in place. But the computer screen that I’ve never seen turn black was shut down, and the important Mom was nowhere to be seen.

“Fan, you’ve come home so late—”

A chilling girl’s voice sounded behind me.

I turned around.

A slender, black monster held a shining metal knife. Its hair and clothes were wild and crazed, and it leaned against the door frame.

“What happened to you?”

I saw the frothy grin through the darkness, and backed away a couple steps.

“I want to give Fan a surprise.”

The murky figure chuckled madly.

“Where’s my mother?”

I asked in fear.

“In the kitchen, she’s in the pot…”

The creature whispered softly, and cackled in delight.

“In the pot?!”

Jiang Muqing? What… What has she done?

I was on the verge of breakdown, and charged towards her, ready for death. Then, all the lights in the house turned on.

The blinding light wiped away all the darkness in the room, and the monster’s “body” became recognizable.

A skinny girl was wearing a white skirt. The teddy-bear ap.r.o.n I usually wore while cooking hung from her neck, loosely covering her waist.

A few cabbage leaves rested on the girl’s hair, and her pale skin was covered in black soot. She was covered in oil stain from head to toe.

Besides the gleaming cleaver in her hand, there wasn’t anything out of place.

“What’s happening?”

“Auntie, you flipped the main switch to soon, I didn’t even say happy birthday!”

Jiang Muqing turned her head, and yelled outside the room.

“I already heard Fan’s scared voice, if I didn’t stop it right there, he would’ve really started crying, haha…”

My mother’s laughter rang from the door.

I took Jiang Muqing’s knife, and realized, I just got pranked by Mom and Jiang Muqing. *

*….

“Happy 16th birthday!”

Jiang Muqing placed a paper birthday crown on my head.

Is today my birthday? I’ve been so busy with finals and Jiang Muqing lately, I’ve completely forgotten.

She pulled me to the dinner table.

It was filled with all kinds of beautiful dishes, and a big vanilla cake sat in the middle. Six candles sat on top of it, marking my 16th birthday.

It’s that much of a big deal? Normally, I’ll either cook something really nice at home, or go out to a restaurant with my mother. I’ve never really had a whole cake.

I didn’t like the taste of icing, so I’ve always stayed away from baked desserts.

“You made all of this?”

I pointed at the dishes in disbelief.

“Yep, I usually order takeout in my own house, and never cooked my own food before. The majority was taught by Auntie, it’s quite a pain to learn cooking.”

Her face creased with fatigue.

My mother walked from the kitchen with the last dish in hand.

The shine on the dishes looked really nice, she caught up to what took me a year in one afternoon. But most of it was taught by my mother, so I was really suspicious.

I curiously picked up a piece with my chopsticks, and chewed.

“Is it good?”

Jiang Muqing’s hopeful gaze stole my breath.

Oh, this flavor….

Did they use all of the salt I bought only a few days ago?

“Yes, it’s great.”

I replied, gritting my teeth.

“Really? I’m so happy!”

Jiang Muqing’s eyes glimmered with a light I’ve never seen before, just like the lights that devoured the darkness.

“Then you have to eat it all, this is my true heart towards Fan.”

The girl’s innocent, cute smile was irresistible.

“Uh, you made quite a lot…. I don’t think I can finish it.”

My face twitched with fear. Do they want me to die of dehydration and sodium intake?

“Fan, show respect to your mother and Jiang Muqing’s hard work.”

Mom nodded happily to the table’s glistening array.

“Yeah, Fan, respect our hard work.”

Jiang Muqing grinned, and followed suit.