dedicated the last column of my makeshift table to what Lavande and Ronga said, especially Lavande's last words.The black wolf and I ... We scented you. Could Ronga have foreseen this would happen and told her? Was that why she painted me, and if so, what was the use of it? I didn't believe for a second that she had done it out of sheer charity. Something had passed from Rick to me, something she was interested in. But where did he catch it? He'd said he'd been cold since midday today. Had he fallen into that blackness too? Had he lost his senses for a short time, heard the voices, fought his way back to his real self? Or was part of him still wandering in the dark while I talked to him?
I shook myself unwillingly. It still didn't make much sense to me, but since Lavande had played such an important role in the matter, what had happened has bothered me beyond measure.But I wouldn't get any further here until I got some sleep. For today I was at the end of my strength. Mentally and physically. It was hard to believe that so many confusing events could fit into one day. Sullenly, I wrote the lines of the bizarre nursery rhyme under my three columns,
[i]
(You find yourself on the edge of the night
You who made up yourself.)

got up and went to the bathroom. I wanted to take a shower, wash off the dirt, sweat, and anger of this far too long day with a good amount of cold water. While I was still walking, I took off my tattered shirt and roughly hurled it in the direction of the rubbish bin by the kitchen counter. The note with the address flew out of its breast pocket as it soared in a high arc through the living room.
As I stepped out of my pants in the bathroom, the shower cubicle on the left and the mirror on my right, I paused in shock. I stood with my back to the reflective glass and didn't want to believe my eyes, didn't want to be drawn in such a way.Not from her. But that it could only have been she, from whom the mark on my right shoulder came, was beyond question at the latest when I recognized its meaning. She had brushed a Japanese character on my shoulder blade, kindly in mirror writing, so that I could now read it perfectly. I laughed shrilly as I deciphered it. "Ai", it said, the symbol for love. Love, love, luv. I already knew the pun. It looked as if it had been written in pitch black ink, but the moment I stripped off the rest of my clothes and got into the shower, I knew that I would not get the writing off, that I would try vigorously and by all means and be unsuccessful . I turned on the water and put my left hand on my shoulder. Where the mark was, my skin was unusually warm and I felt a distinct pulsation, but only with my hand, not the part of my back on which the mark was painted.[i]"This is mine"
"Wrong, that's mine. And you won't get it, because the black wolf and I ... We scented you."
My fist crashed against one of the tiles, so hard that it cracked and some very fine shards trickled onto the bottom of the tub. "Why now?" I pressed out, suffocated by my own anger, "Why can't you finally leave me alone? You got what you wanted."

-

Did I mention that I hate FF codes, that I would have been bored to death without the vase scene in this chapter, and that I feel terribly sorry for Kori at this point? TT___TT
Well, Mei, I know you're going to throw my own scruffy fish at me and scold: "The question marks are still there!" how many of his acquaintances would express it * g *) to break out of perspective. He'll have to get to the bottom of the matter and then you'll find out more, but I won't tell you more than he knows and unfortunately that's not much at this point.^ _ ^ ° I got the poor guy into a mess. And then the sign ... Wäääh! I'm so mean! I'm going to punish myself by learning.
Don't get used to the fast uploads. From tomorrow my semester break will be over.