Villainous Me: Help! The heroines are yanderes!
Chapter 78 - 77: Tessa’s Secret[GTG]

"Hey!" Hearing the loud yell, he spun around to see a face framed by a cascade of cotton candy pink hair.

It was Emily, a wide, mischievous grin plastered across her features – a stark contrast to the life-or-death situation they were in. "Any luck?" she chirped, a touch too cavalier for someone potentially facing their demise.

"No," he replied.

"Tsk," Emily clicked her tongue, the sound sharp in the tense silence. "Could she have left already?" she muttered, worry creasing her brow for a fleeting moment before morphing back into her usual carefree facade.

"Possibly," Ryan echoed, the word a lead weight in his gut. He fervently hoped that wasn’t the case.

A shrill voice sliced through the air, shattering the fragile calm. "Found anything?!" It was Scarlet, her normally fiery red hair plastered to her forehead with sweat, flanked by a stoic-looking Lyra.

"Nope," Ryan sighed, deflating a little further. "You guys?"

Lyra shook her head, her expression that of exhaustion. But then, to Ryan’s surprise, she reached out and grasped his hand, her touch surprisingly warm.

A reassuring smile played on her lips, but Ryan found it little discomfort. ’Not good,’ Ryan thought with a grimace. He wasn’t sure where to look, and it was obvious she was doing it intentionally as she had a satisfied smirk from from his awkwardness.

"Stop that!" Emily shrieked, yanking Lyra’s hand away with a possessive glint in her eyes. "Don’t touch him like that," she added with a growl, a sliver of possessiveness she had tried hiding before flickering to life.

"But you can’t stop me," Lyra countered, a playful glint in her eyes as she swatted Emily’s hand away.

"Can you guys... not?" Ryan pleaded, his head throbbing with the beginnings of a migraine fueled by their childish antics.

The two girls exchanged one last glare that could curdle milk before turning away with huffs.

"?"

A hesitant touch brushed against Ryan’s hand.

He flinched, but then relaxed as he saw Helen’s gentle hand clasped in his. ’Wait, when did she...?’ he tried to speak but just shook of his head.

Needing a new course of action, Ryan turned to Scarlet, who seemed to be the most level-headed at the moment. "Scarlet, you said you knew this girl we’re looking for. Did she have any close friends or anything?"

His hopes were dashed as Scarlet gave a helpless shrug. "I don’t know her personally, but... we bump into each other sometimes. And for some reason, she always acts like she knows me."

"How so?" Ryan pressed, a sliver of hope sparking.

"Well," Scarlet began, "the way she approaches me, the things she says – they’re strange, cryptic pronouncements that only make sense later."

A heavy silence descended upon the group as they absorbed this new information.

"Like what?" Emily finally broke the quiet, her voice laced with curiosity.

Scarlet pursed her lips, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Once, she told me about a student who would go missing. At the time, I just wrote her off as a delusional weirdo. There were rumors about her in her class, too – creepy, always avoiding everyone. So, I didn’t take her words seriously. Not until..." she trailed off, her gaze flickering to Ryan.

"I went missing," Ryan finished for her, a cold realization dawning on him.

"Exactly," Scarlet confirmed. "And just recently, she told me to stay away from the one person I desperately cared about, or I’d lose them. It scared the living daylights out of me, because you were the only one who fit that description, especially after you ditched us in the cafeteria. That’s when I got Lyra to distract everyone so we could avoid you, and that’s when I found out about the whole ’someone-trying-to-kill-you’ thing."

"WHAT?!" Both Emily and Helen shrieked in unison, their faces contorted in shock. "Someone wants to kill him?" Emily roared, her voice trembling with a mix of terror and fury.

"Who?!" Helen demanded, her voice tight with barely suppressed panic.

This time, it was Lyra who spoke, her voice low and grudging. "After, uh, persuading someone in the virtual world to spill the beans, I got a lead." All eyes turned to her, hanging on her next words.

"It was someone called Tessa," Lyra blurted out, finally succumbing to the pressure of their stares.

"Wait," Helen interrupted, her voice sharp. "You mean THE Tessa who got expelled from the academy three months ago?"

Lyra nodded curtly. "Yeah, that Tessa. But here’s the kicker," she continued, her gaze locking with Ryan’s, "you somehow stumbled onto their secret – something you probably don’t remember now thanks to the whole memory-loss thing."

Ryan felt a smug satisfaction welling up within him. ’Seems I was right on the money, after all,’ he thought, a mental click echoing in the void of his amnesia.

"So they tried to silence you to keep it buried," Emily muttered, piecing together the fragments of information. "But... what secret could be so bad they’d resort to murder?"

A frown etched itself onto Lyra’s face. "Well, apparently it has something to do with the Dark Church. Seems Tessa’s duchy was somehow involved with them."

The weight of that revelation settled on the group like a physical blow. This was a motive dark enough to warrant silencing Ryan permanently.

"But with what you said about the prophecy," Lyra added hesitantly, "I doubt they care about silencing you anymore."

...

"...so now we know one thing for sure about this girl," Ryan interjected, his voice grim. "She can apparently see the future."

"But if that’s the case, wouldn’t she have gotten herself out of here by now?" Scarlet pointed out.

"Possibly," Ryan conceded, the word leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. "Or maybe-"

He was cut off as something speared him from behind, stealing his breath. A sickening thud echoed as he crumpled to the ground.