In the quiet, mysterious forest, Luca, Ming, and Rin were looking at Deiba with confusion as she slowly stepped back from them. When Ming tried to approach her, she stepped back quickly and said, "D-D-Don't come near me, I-I-I don't want to hurt you."
Her voice was trembling, her hands were shaking like a leaf.
Then Ming said, "Hey, that's okay. You are not like other monsters—I mean, you are not one of them, so maybe… maybe we can help you. Just talk to us."
Rin and Luca nodded in agreement, and Rin said in a calm but slightly concerned voice, "He is right. Just tell us how you can control yourself, how you could control yourself, so maybe it will help us get you back to normal."
Then Luca added, "Yeah, we want to help you."
But Deiba kept stepping away from them. She leaned against a tree and sat down, hugging her knees, and cried, "S-s-stay away." Her whisper cracked.
"O-o-or you will get hurt. I-I-I-I am a monster!!! Stay away!!"
With her outburst, everything went silent. No one moved or spoke. The cold air drifted through them—so quiet.
Then Luca stepped forward and crouched down in front of her. His hand reached out to touch her chin so she would look up at him, but he hesitated and withdrew his hand. He sighed, then said softly, "Hey… look at me… please."
At first, Deiba refused to look up, but at his plea, she couldn't help it. She finally looked up at him. Her red eyes were filled with tears, and the cloth over her nose was a little wet from crying. Her teary red eyes shone under the moonlight.
Then Luca said, "You are not a monster, you know. Why?"
Deiba asked softly, "Why?"
Luca smiled and responded, "Because you feel something. And monsters don't feel anything. They don't cry. But you did. Because you are human—from your kindness, from your heart. In this world, where normal humans act like monsters, even though your appearance is like a monster, you behave like a human. Now, tell us… how did you become like this?"
Deiba wiped her tears. She was surprised by their kindness. Then she looked at Ming and Rin, then at Luca, and said, "Okay… I will tell you everything from the beginning. When I lived in the village, all girls in our village wore veils because it was our culture. Yes, it's true that everyone in our village is beautiful—well, not everyone, some—but mostly they are beautiful. But that is not the reason we hide our face. We hide our face out of respect for our culture, and only remove it when we feel we can trust someone.
So it started when I left the village with my mom, dad, and little sister for the city. In the Shinkansen train toward Tokyo, where we were going to start our new life."
(Backstory of Deiba)
Deiba was on the train with her father, mother, and younger sister, who was just 10 years old. When they arrived at Tokyo Station, they got off the train. It was nighttime when they left the station. Deiba and her younger sister looked around. Their eyes brightened at the beauty of Tokyo. Their innocent eyes admired the dazzling city, which made their parents smile.
Then they arrived at another station and took the JR Chuo Line to Shinjuku.
After arriving, they finally reached their destination—Kabukichō.
After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at a small street where only a few small houses stood. They walked toward their new house and stopped in front of it.
Deiba's little sister said excitedly, "Is this our new home? Yay!!!"
Then Deiba turned toward her parents with innocent, shining eyes and asked, "Father, Mother, are we going to join school tomorrow also, as you promised?"
Their parents exchanged glances, then smiled and nodded at them. The girls jumped with excitement.
"Whoa!!!" they screamed and hugged their parents. Their parents patted their heads.
Everything was good until suddenly they heard a few people laughing. When they turned, there were 5–6 rowdy drunkards laughing and drinking. Then their eyes fell on Deiba and her family.
Those drunkards smirked and walked toward them. One of the drunkards said, "Look what we have here? New people, huh?"
Another one said, "Hey, look at that girl, her face is hidden." He pointed at Deiba with a silly smile, and the other drunkards also looked at her. Deiba hid behind her mother and held her little sister tightly.
Then one drunkard stepped forward, but Deiba's father stepped in and said, "Don't get near my family."
The drunkard looked at him with surprise, then laughed. "Oh come on, sir, we just want to see her face. Now move out of our way."
That drunkard tried to push Deiba's father, but her father was strong enough to push him back. The drunkard fell to the ground and got angry.
"How dare you, you old man!! You will regret this!"
Then suddenly all the drunkards attacked Deiba's father, but he did not even flinch and fought back in defense. Deiba and her family were terrified, but they believed—trusted him. He was fighting, his face now filled with anger and his eyes full of determination to protect his family.
But the drunkard who had fallen to the ground got up and grabbed a steel rod. His face was red from anger and alcohol. Then he struck Deiba's father on the head from behind. His mind spun, everything turned blurry, and he collapsed.
Deiba and her little sister screamed, "Father!!!!"
And Deiba's mother screamed, "DEAR!!!"
They were horrified, their eyes full of tears. The drunkards started beating Deiba's father. Her mother tried to stop them.
"Stop! Stop it! Please stop!!"
One drunkard kicked her away, but she didn't stop and desperately tried again. When she didn't stop, that same drunkard struck her with the steel rod 3–4 times on the head, and she died on the spot.
Deiba and her little sister watched that horrifying scene. The drunkards were laughing. "HA HA HA HA!"
Their father's eyes filled with tears. He wanted to scream for his wife, but he couldn't. He closed his eyes and fell unconscious.
Deiba and her little sister ran toward their parents and cried,
"Mom, wake up! Mom! Dad, please!"
Then her little sister ran toward the drunkard who attacked their parents first, and she gave small punches on his legs with all her strength. That drunkard got irritated and picked her up by her throat and threw her. She slammed hard against a wall, then fell, and her head hit a stone on the ground. She was bleeding. Deiba looked at the scene with shock, and she screamed, "SISTER!" She ran toward her and tried to wake her, but she was already dead. She cried, "SISTER! SISTER PLEASE WAKE HER!" But she didn't wake. Deiba cried and screamed, "You, you killed my mom, my sister! My family!!"
Then finally, those drunkards stopped laughing, and they realized that they had killed them, and if they stayed there, they would get arrested. One of the drunkards said, "Damn bro, they are dead, we should run before anyone sees us." The other nodded with fear and ran away.
Deiba was crying when she suddenly remembered that she hadn't checked her father—maybe, just maybe, he was still alive. She quickly ran toward her father desperately and checked his breathing. Time seemed to stop, cold air passed over her, and she felt that her father was still breathing.
Then she called for help. "Help! Please someone! Please! Help me take my father to the hospital!!" But no one came. There were just a few houses, close enough to hear her screams, her voice, but they chose to ignore them, as if they were deaf.
When no one arrived, Deiba searched her father's pockets for a phone. When she found one, she quickly called the emergency number.
(Time skip. A few days later)
Deiba's sister and mother were now buried in the graveyard, and her father was in the hospital in a coma.
Deiba had spent all the money her father had brought for emergencies—money meant for their studies—on her father's treatment. One day, she sat on the chair beside the hospital bed where her father lay in a coma. She hoped, with all her heart, that maybe one day he would wake up. Suddenly, the heart monitor began beeping loudly. Doctors rushed in, and one said, "Ms. Deiba, please wait outside."
Deiba nodded hesitantly, not wanting to leave her father's side, but she eventually stepped out and waited outside the ward, clinging to the hope that he would wake up.
But cruel fate had other plans. Hours later, a doctor came out of the room and said, "We're sorry… we couldn't save your father. He's gone."
The words echoed in Deiba's ears. It felt as if the earth itself was shaking. Her world had ended in just a few days. Everything seemed to stop. She ran inside the room and she saw her father lifelessly lying on the bed. She quickly ran to his side and held his lifeless hand. She tried to wake her father up desperately.
"Father! Father! Father, I'm scared. I'm alone. Don't leave me, please. Please wake up… and tell me that everything will be fine, Father, please."
But no response came from her father. She screamed, "Father!!!" She cried and cried hard. She buried her face in her father's chest and kept crying.
When suddenly, she heard screams from outside the hospital.
She raised her head and wiped her tears. Then she got up and went to the window, and saw outside the window that the buildings were falling.
She was so shocked that she didn't know how to react, because her father had just died and now this was happening. Then everything went still, went quiet, and without any warning, the door of the wardrobe opened.
When she turned, she saw a doctor in a doctor's coat standing there, but their eyes were red, their nails were long, and their hands were twisted.
And then that doctor ran towards her. She stepped back and closed her eyes, but then—
"Boom!!"
When she opened her eyes, she saw a black transparent shield around her and a man in front of her. His face was covered, and he was inside the shield with her. Then the man said, "Deiba, I know what happened with you. This cruel world will not understand that, but I do. I will give you the power so you can take your revenge on those drunkards, because they don't deserve to live. And I will tell you where they are hidden, away from those creatures that I created."
Deiba looked at him with shock and asked in a soft and scared voice, "Y-y-you… you created those monsters? You created these creatures? You made them like this?"
He nodded and said, "Yes, I made them like this. But I keep those drunkards normal so you can show them the conscience of their sin by yourself. But.... after that you have to do one thing for me." Then Deiba asked hesitatingly, "W-What do you want me to do?"
Then the man slowly stepped forward and leaned towards her ears. The time stopped for a second, and she held her breath. She was barely breathing at that time. Then he broke the silence and said, "Few weeks or months or days later, few people, three people will come into the forest that is near the city." He stopped. Deiba swallowed hard, then he continued, "I want you to kill one of them."
Deiba was shocked, and that man smirked.
(Back to present time)
As Deiba told them everything, they were shocked and felt pity for her. They were sad for her. And she said, "That's how I became like this. I was here to kill one of you, but I couldn't because you all are different from this cruel world. And you all are kind like my mom and dad. And Luca is innocent, like my sister." With that, she cried.
Ming, Rin, and Luca were really sad and they wanted to comfort her, and finally Luca hesitantly placed his hand on her shoulder as a comfort and said, "You never were really a monster, Deiba. You never were supposed to be like this. You never, never were meant to become like this. You deserve kindness. You deserve a happy life."
He said it to comfort Deiba, but the words of his were true.
In the serious situation when everyone was thinking about the things that she told them, they suddenly noticed that she was vanishing, and it started from her feet.
Their eyes widened in shock and horror. Luca said, "Deiba! You—!"
Deiba nodded and said, "That man warned me at that time that if I told anyone about how I became like this, then I would vanish away forever."
This shocking revelation changed the world of Rin, Ming, and Luca like they fell hard on something, they were shocked.
Ming, Rin, and Luca exchanged glances and started panicking. Rin shouted, "No! There must be some way to save you!" Ming added, "Yes! You can't just vanish like this!" But Deiba shook her head—there was no more time for them.
Then, suddenly, Deiba said, "I told you, we only show our faces when we trust someone."
Everyone looked at her in confusion. They didn't understand why she had said that. Then she slowly untied her nose piece, her face veil, and said softly, "I trust you all."
Luca, Ming, and Rin saw her face for the first time, stunned. Her soft, clean skin was wet with tears.
Luca, who had always wanted to see her face, spoke at last, his voice trembling, "Y-y-you are beautiful."
Then finally, Luca broke down crying. Ming and Rin bit their lips, trying to hold back their own tears. Rin punched a tree and screamed, "Damn it! Damn it!" Ming slammed his hand on the ground. "This can't be happening!"
They took a deep breath to steady themselves. Everyone turned to look at Deiba, who now smiled with teary eyes.
And she whispered, loud enough for them to hear. Softly, she said, "Thanks. I was lucky to meet you all." Then, with one last smile, she vanished away.
End of chapter 29