Psycho Chapter 17

Back with Psycho after that ridiculously long Undying Body chapter nobody's gonna enjoy reading lol

Chapter 17, Jealousy

Some people laughed teased, “You're so lucky, Ye Zi. It looks like Taozi likes you.”

Some also said, “Ye Zi's heart is still with Haixia though, sigh. There's no hope for Taozi.”

Taozi, a smart girl from the Chinese department. She usually wore a pair of black-framed glasses. She didn't seem it, but once the glasses were off and with the swimsuit on, she had a body that gave the boys nosebleeds. Who knows how many boys wanted to get with her, but her eyes seemed to be following Ye Zi the whole time. She even took the initiative to talk to Ye Zi when they were eating barbecue by the beach.

To be honest, Ye Zi was quite fond of her. Taozi was a very cute girl. She had never had a boyfriend in the past and didn't talk much to the other boys either, so her cheeks were red when she talked with Ye Zi. To think such a shy girl would actually take the initiative to talk to Ye Zi and even mustered up the courage later to ask Ye Zi to teach her how to swim. It could be seen how determined she was. Unfortunately, they did not end up swimming because of the light rain.

After playing mahjong indoors for a while, everyone started to warm up, and Taozi was no longer as timid. She was a very attentive girl who was always very considerate and never put on airs. At the same time, she was independent, unlike Nie Haixia who felt that it was only normal for the man to pay. After buying her a bottle of water, she quickly bought Ye Zi some seafood…

There was no way Ye Zi wouldn't feel anything in front of a girl like this.

In just two days, they grew close to each other.

The weather was cool on the third night. The group went down to the seaside town for some shopping and to get some regional specialties. The town had an ancient feel with carved fences, painted columns, and colorful lanterns, makings its visitors feel like they had transmigrated.

Ye Zi and Taozi were walking in front. Taozi had on a long, flowing orange dress, and she turned many heads.

Hare was right behind them with several girls flocking around him.

While gossiping with Hare about their plans, the girls kept on texting Taozi and encouraging her. Every now and then, Taozi would turn around and frown or sign at them with her eyes. When Ye Zi called her to hurry, up, she finally went over and took Ye Zi's arm.

“Ahh, she succeeded!” The girls cheered. Naturally, they ended up looking at Hare too. “Isn't it right? Jason? The seaside is the best place to fall in love after all! Ah, I'm so jealous!”

“Jason, why don't you get a girlfriend too? It's nice to engage in a beachside love affair.”

Hare smiled but did not speak.

Suddenly, he stopped. A shop that was selling masks caught his attention. There was an assortment of colorful and oddly shaped masks hanging from the dark curtains. There were faces, animals, cartoon characters, and monsters that came in red, white, patterned, or filled with colors. An intriguing sight.

He couldn't help himself from picking up one of the masks and putting it on—

Ye Zi stepped into the shop and saw the masked figure as soon as he went in.

Taozi happily walked in to admire all the masks, but Ye Zi was frozen in place as if he had been caught by Hare's spell.

That was a simple rabbit mask with long ears, and big, black eyes that looked like black holes, as well as long whiskers on its round face…It was clearly a very simple looking mask, but Ye Zi's head felt like it was going to burst. He staggered backwards and massaged his temples hard.

Then, everything around him seemed to morph.

It was nighttime in a dark alleyway.

There, a boy stood in front of him with sparklers in his small hands, a dazzling sight of beautiful lights.

“Ah Zi, you like sparklers, right? Let's play together.”

The sparklers went out and the sticks fell to the ground, returning the alleyway to its cold darkness once more.

The boy still did not give up. He tried his best to put on a rabbit mask and his voice trembled. “Ah Zi…You like rabbits the most, right? Look…I…I turned into a rabbit…So don't hate me anymore, okay? Play with me, okay?”

…

Ye Zi came back to his senses abruptly. After taking off the mask, Hare left, brushing past Ye Zi's shoulder.

What just happened?

Was Hare the boy behind the mask?

Could it be, he really had known him since a long time ago? And that person who fell into the puddle as well. Was that him? Were they his real memories?

Ye Zi suddenly recalled that Hare did inform him that they had known early on in a half-joking manner. This was easily proven by the fact that he was able to recognize him when all he knew was his phone number. He wasn't just good at picking him out from the crowd. He already knew what he looked like.

So, what was their connection? And what happened between them in the past? Would that explain Hare's strange obsessions with him?

He wanted to seek out Hare and ask for an explanation, but he couldn't find him.

After being dragged off by everyone to go shopping, they returned to the beach again and played fight the landlord[1] in their tent. Everyone must have wanted to give Ye Zi and Taozi some alone time as soon, they were all out for BBQ and some late-night beer. In other words, the only ones left in the tent were Ye Zi and Taozi.

Taozi was visibly nervous as she sat across Ye Zi, stuttering as she brought up the events earlier that day, and about the beautiful shells on the beach, the large starfish, the sharks in the fish tank, and so on. But Ye Zi was distracted. His mind was filled with matters regarding Hare, leaving him puzzled and annoyed.

“So, so…Senior…Ye Zi…”

Taozi suddenly looked up at Ye Zi, catching him off guard. The drink in his hands shook. He asked, “Yeah? What's up?”

Taozi's cheeks were slightly red and her lips parted, “Senior…I…I…”

She tried for a long time but still couldn't muster out the words. Though, Ye Zi could more or less guess what she wanted to say. He should be feeling happy about it since a cute and gentle girl like her was actually interested in him, and was even so forward about it. He should accept her immediately. But for some reason, Ye Zi felt uncomfortable, and cold sweat was even forming on his back. He would even think back to the countless scenes he always wanted to forget—the terribly, noisy music filled with blood, and the withering of a life.

Ye Zi frowned slightly, thinking about how he was going to reject her in a not-so-direct way.

But Taozi suddenly propped herself up and leaned towards Ye Zi. A timid girl like her actually tried to kiss Ye Zi!

In that instant, Ye Zi lost his will to react.

But the girl suddenly stopped. A cold, pale hand caught her by the shoulder.

Taozi squealed softly and went completely red. She looked at Hare and Ye Zi, fidgeting in embarrassment.

Hare looked calmly at her and smiled. “I'm sorry, I needed to talk to Senior about something.”

“I…I'll go to sleep then…” After that, Taozi quickly ran out of the tent.

Then, the tent fell silent. The sounds of everyone drinking and eating outside mixed in with the low hum of the waves.

“What is it?” Ye Zi was silent for a long time before he asked.

Hare sat in front of Ye Zi and looked at him with a tender expression. “What do you think about Taozi?”

Ye Zi couldn't really understand why Hare would ask him that all of a sudden, but he still responded with, “I think she's good. Cute, considerate, good body too.”

In the next instant, the small plastic table was flipped over, and the drinks and cards all slid down onto the sand.

Ye Zi was abruptly yanked up by the collar to face Hare. Only by looking at this distance did he finally realize how scary Hare's expression was. His eyes were glaring wide at him and he could see the red nerves covering the white surface. He looked nothing short of a demon.

“What the hell are you…” Though Ye Zi was afraid, he felt even angrier.

Hare cut him off in a deep and slightly hoarse whisper, “Don't force my hand…Ah Zi. I don't want to kill her.”

“What?”

That horrible expression disappeared from Hare's face, almost like a mask changing trick[2]. In just an instant, a smile had emerged on his face, but it made his hair stand on end. “Heh…Hahaha…What would happen if a cute girl like her died? What expression would she have on her face? What about you, Ah Zi? Would you be scared? Afraid?”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“Hahahaha…Do you know…how much I hate her? Why does she get to hold your hand? Why does she get to be so close to you? and talk to you? How long have you even known her? And you already have feelings for her? Then what about me? Why can't I be the one? Why do you reject me? Because she's a woman and I'm a man? Because she looks better in her pretty dress? Because she looks cute when she's blushing? Then what if she loses her face, her eyes, and her hair? What then? What then?? Would you finally choose me if that happened?!!!”

“You're crazy!!!” Ye Zi began to struggle.

But in the next instant, he was pushed down by Hare onto the sand, suppressed by the weight of his body. The ocean breeze blew over the fabric covering the tent's entrance, causing the lights above to go out, leaving the entire tent pitch black to the point where you could not even see your fingers.

Hare panted heavily in the darkness, the heat of his fiery breath beating against Ye Zi's face. It was clear that he was very, very close. “Yeah. I'm crazy. I've been crazy for a long time now. God knows how difficult it was for me to endure. I wanted to just lock you up in a cage, for you to look only at me, and talk to me alone…”

“…”

When Hare finally calmed down his emotions, he heard him say, “Hey, Ah Zi. If you don't want Taozi to die, you can also just give me a kiss.”

“You're delusional.”

For the next half a minute, Hare did not speak.

The dead silence was terrifying. Ye Zi almost regretted rejecting him and putting Taozi in danger.

But Ye Zi's anger was quickly doused when drop after drop of that warm liquid dripped down onto his neck. Clearly, he was the one being threatened, but he ended up feeling guilty instead. But that was inevitable. He thought back to that child crying on that puddle again. That child in the rabbit mask.

Hare's voice sounded again in a slightly nasal note. “Heh, I'm just kidding. Don't worry, I won't kill her. I don't want to see you hurt, and I'm not foolish enough to let someone insignificant like her ruin our relationship and make you hate me. Ah, how could I forget? You already hate me. You don't even want to see me. You want me to get out of your sight, don't you? I'll go, I'll go right now.”

Then, his breath disappeared.

Following that, the tent curtain was pulled up, and he left.

Ye Zi touched the liquid on his hand, feeling slightly out of it. Then, he suddenly stood up and slipped out of the tent, quickly chasing forward in a large stride.

The group outside who were enjoying their barbecue and beer were surprised to see Ye Zi. “Where's Taozi? Aren't you supposed to be together with her right now?”

“Who're you looking for? Wait, don't tell me…Did you scare Taozi off? Sigh, you have to go step by step, don't rush it too hard…”

Ye Zi did not make a sound and just ran towards the sea.

Sure enough, Hare was walking on the beach, leaving footprint after footprint behind him. The moonlight covered his figure with its hazy illumination as the seagulls flew overhead in the night sky, the nocturnal birds returning to their nests.

Ye Zi was panting. “Hold it right there!”

But Hare did not turn around. He continued to walk. This was the first time he had ignored Ye Zi. In the past, Hare would definitely run over to Ye Zi obediently once he heard his voice, just like a puppy waiting for its owner to reward them with a pat on the head.

Ye Zi shouted, “Tell me! What happened between us in the past? And what is it that makes you so obsessed with me? I suddenly remembered something when I saw you wearing that rabbit mask. We knew each other when we were young, right? Hey! Do you hear me?? What the hell is going on?”

The night breeze was howling.

Hare finally stopped, his voice extremely hoarse. “Ye Zi. Do you know what you're doing? Leave me alone if you don't have any feelings for me, and don't bother yourself with stupid things like that. You'll still tell me to get away from you in the end anyway, right? To tell you the truth, I really don't want to see you right now.”

Apart from when they first met, this was the first time he called Ye Zi by his full name.

This was also the very first time he said he didn't want to see him.

Ye Zi felt irritated. Extremely irritated.

Even his chest was feeling stuffy. Surprisingly, those words made him feel worse than what happened earlier. The fire was rising up in his head, and even his fingers were trembling.

Even Ye Zi could not figure out why, but he just roared out by instinct, “I don't give a fuck if you don't want to see me right now! So cut the shit. You're going to tell me tonight—”

Before Ye Zi could finish, Hare suddenly turned around.

He suddenly caught Ye Zi by the chin, raised it up, and kissed him hard.

Notes:
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dou_dizhu

[2]A Sichuan opera thing where a performance artist changes their mask rapidly to reveal more than a dozen different masks resembling face paints of Chinese opera. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bian_lian

Chapter end