Venom: Needy Girl Syndrome: Chapter 2: The Girl who Can’t Come Home

“Why are you always like this…..!”

Back when I was young, before my sister was born, my parents were sort of kind to me, I guess.

When was it that they started treating only me so strictly? I have no clue.

“Jeez…. If it were your sister, this wouldn’t have happened. Did she take all your good points? Yeah, that’s definitely it.”

I thought as I listened to my mom shout.

But human memories can change. Maybe they were never nice to me in the first place and that is just what I hoped was the case. 

A failure like me shouldn’t hope for kinder parents. 

But even if I’m a failure, I have a hero who will protect me.

She, Ai, stood before me as if trying to shield me from mom.

“I’m very sorry, ma’am. I will be sure to right the young lady.”

I always thought her bow was beautiful. Even though she became our family’s maid not too long ago, she acts with a gratefulness as if she’s been here for years. As expected of my hero!

Although I’m not too fond of her bowing before someone who isn’t me, she seems somewhat happier when she does it for me, so I won’t say anything about it. After all, even my own family won’t apologize on my behalf. 

“Please be sure to do so. If it’s you, I’m sure she’ll listen.”

“…..of course.”

Ai lowered her head even further. My mother stared at her for a bit, and then looked at me with an indignant look and went back to her room.

After her footsteps couldn’t be heard anymore, I told Ai to raise her head, but she never did. That’s just how uniform she is. Sometimes, I admire her for that, but that time isn’t now. Is my mom really that scary? Aside from my father, we don’t really have any power over Ai. 

She finally raises her head a while later and takes me to my room. 

I glanced at her perfectly straight back as we walked down the corridor. 

After we returned to my room, she asked me to sit down and began scolding me. I don’t really mind being lectured by her, given how she’s doing it for my sake rather than because my mom ordered her to.

“My lady.”

“Didn’t I tell you to call me Elim when we’re in my room?”

Although she was somewhat taken aback by what I said just now, she regained her seriousness immediately after. Jeez, it was just a joke.

“My lady, do you know the severity of what you have done?”

“I wasn’t slacking or anything. You know that, don’t you?”

“…..I wasn’t referring to your grades. The problem lies in your attitude towards your mother. Given that tone, it’s not unreasonable for the usually kind her to be angry.”

“What do you mean usually kind? Do you actually think that?”

“My lady.”

She drilled into me with eyes filled with anger. Rather than scared, it makes me more excited.

“Why do you always make enemies for yourself?”
“Because I don’t care about anyone but you, Ai.”
“Again with your jokes…”

“I’m being serious here. You know I’m not joking too, don’t you?”
“….If you truly think that, then please obey what I said.”

“If I do that, will you kiss me?”

“Eh?”

“I want you to kiss me.”

I pointed at my lips.

She started slowly looking left and right. Even though we have the air conditioner on, her face is red as an apple. So cute!

Seeing her like this, my smile grew. After all, how can I not be happy, seeing the hero who protected me from my mother dancing in the palm of my hands?

“So, what are you going to do?”

She had an unsure expression on her face. Even though she’s always brief with her words, her face is very expressive, so I can’t help but tease her.

Finally, she made up her mind and looked at me.

“….I’ll only do something like this once.”

“Got it, then I’ll be expecting other forms of affection from you!”

“That’s not what I mean!”

If I continue like this, she’ll actually start lecturing me, so I decided to do as she says.

○

A few years later, she was promoted to head maid thanks to her hard work.

Because she’s the only one who can convince the most difficult member of our family, me, she was obligated not to resign. I don’t want her to either so I’m very grateful to my parents for that. That’s probably the only time I’ll ever be thankful.

As for me, although I’m better than the average person, I’m still a failure compared to my sister.

Every week my parents would scold me for some mistake or another and my sister would peek out and look at me with innocent pity.

It’ll probably always be like this in the future.

But I don’t care.

I’ve already made my decision.

It’s not something that can be done alone, so I need a second person to hatch my plan.

“I have something to say.”

Ai, who I’ve summoned, looks as pretty as ever.

“What is it, Elim-sama?”

It feels like she’s matured over the years, especially now that she’s the head maid. It’s as if you need to look the part first in order to become the head maid. Though she did work really hard to reach that position, which I am very proud of her for.

How would she act when I say what I’m about to say next? Will she be happy? Dumbfounded? The worst-case scenario is that she looks down on me for it.

Even so, I opened my mouth and said:

“After I graduate from middle school, let’s move out of this place together.”

She frowned. She wasn’t happy nor did she show contempt, but rather she was confused as to why I would say something like that.

So I cited the line I’ve rehearsed many times.

“To my family, I’m nothing but a failure. It’ll just be a burden for both my family and me if I stay here, so after I graduate, I want to run away.”

I took a deep breath.

I smiled so as to not make her worried.

“It’ll be fine, I’ve already saved up quite a bit of money and have been looking for somewhere that they won’t find.”

Even though I explained it, she still looked like she doesn’t get it.

“So please don’t worry.”

Though I’m just telling her not to worry, it’s more like I’m begging her not to. If I don’t beg her, she might not come, and if she doesn’t come, the plan would fail and become meaningless.

“Haven’t you already gotten into the high school you wanted? If you plan to run away, I don’t think it’s too late to do so after high school.”

She struggled to stay calm. This must be her honest opinion. I sighed inside, relieved that she didn’t despise me for it.

“Although I don’t have any reason to leave immediately, I do have many for why I can’t take it anymore. I’m so tired of being compared to my sister. I’m sure you’re aware of that, right?”

She nodded lightly. But she kept her head down as if thinking about how to change my mind. Maybe it’s because she didn’t expect me to do something like this, even in her dreams.

But I’ve already prepared what to say after that.

“In the end, I have no right to drag you down with me, nor can I prepare for you a better position than head maid, which means there’s nothing in it for you.”

I made this request knowing that.

“But you are irreplaceable to me, therefore I beg of you to come with me.”

“….wow, lucky me.”

“Right?”

I tried to smile.

“Of course, I won’t force you.”

I really don’t want to do this, but…

“Because this plan can only work if you join, I won’t leave if you don’t come with me. So the wiser decision is probably to just treat this as a problem and report it to my parents.”

There’s probably no one thinking straight at this point.

“Ai.”

It’s because I trust her so much that I would say that.

“I firmly believe that you’ll join me.”

I reached my hand out to her.

“…..you really are strong, my lady.”

She said in an emotional yet dumbfounded tone. I looked at her, somewhat confused.

I believe that truly strong people are those who wouldn’t run away from reality and face it head-on. So for me, who’s trying to hide from reality, Ai’s the strong one.

As I thought, she’s always been my hero.

“You’re the strong one here, and I believe in that strength, which is why I made this offer.”

I’m desperate to the point where I’m thinking out loud because I want this to succeed no matter what.

Be it because she found my desperation amusing or some other reason, she finally smiled.

“To uphold your trust is quite the responsibility, huh.”

“Eh? How dare you say that!”

“Well of course I would, after all, if you run away, you would no longer be ‘my lady’.”

“You’re right about that… then should we live as sisters?”

“We look nothing alike but sure.”

Ai held my hand with a steady smile on her face.

“Alright, time for you to quit it.”

Just then I heard the sound of the door opening.

My father was standing in the doorway. Seeing his shadow, I felt a chill run down my spine. The entire room’s soundproofed, why is he here all of a sudden?

“Why are you here?”

“Due to your recent behavior, I set up listening devices inside your room. But to think you’d plan something like this…”

He set up bugs!

Faced with this reality, I fell to the ground on the spot.

“I’ve turned a blind eye towards your obscene relationship up until now, but running away is another story. Do you think I’d allow it? That’s why you hatched this plan, no? That’s why we call you a failure.”

He said spitefully.

“You too, head maid. Why do you go along with her? She’s just an unruly brat, even if you take her, you’d be bringing nothing but trouble. You’re not dumb enough not to know that, are you?”

“I am her maid. I’d do anything for her.”

I was deeply moved by those words, but my father was not so kind. Seeing him raise his hand, I desperately tried to shield Ai with my body. As a result, I slowly started losing consciousness due to blunt force trauma.

○

When I woke up, beside me was a maid I don’t recognize.

“Where’s Ai?”

Given how she wasn’t here, I asked, suspicious.

“The master has decided to forgive the head maid under the condition that she no longer appeared before you, Elim-sama.”

“….she’s gone?”

It’s my fault that she….

“Yes, as a result of that incident, I will be your personal maid from now on. I’ll be in your care from now on….. My lady?”

My vision turned blurry.

And thus began my hopeless high school days.

○

“The people of this class never come on time. Shouldn’t you lot pay more attention to the clock?”

I listened to the teacher’s slow lecture as I looked out the window. It’s been many months since I graduated. On the outside, I treated that incident as just “what happens happens, nothing I can do about it”. It was the only thing I can do now that I’d lost Ai.

To others, I probably seem as if I just want to forget about it all and live on.

But the scars left behind from that time are still here, and they’re aching.

Every day, I thought ‘if only I hadn’t thought up something so stupid’, but no matter how many times I think it, I still believe that I would have chosen to run away with her. Because staying at home is painful to the point that it’s hard to breathe.

With my hero gone, it’s even more painful. I don’t think I’ll find anyone like her again.

That’s fine. I’ll just let her be an irreplaceable part of my heart.

But it still hurts when I’m at home. And because I was forced to make the promise that I won’t run away until I graduate high school, it just hurts even more.

And so in the end, I made an alt account on social media. That way I can finally vent as my last lifeline without anyone knowing it’s me. Seeing others sympathize with my pain kind of moves me. The feeling of reassurance that comes from knowing that someone out there shares my pain relieves my own.

As a result, I’ve spent most of my time at home on social media. After I’ve done my schoolwork of course, so as to not incur the wrath of my parents. As a result of my parent’s constant berating, I’ve learned how much I should try and no more than necessary.

“Well then, let’s work hard again tomorrow.”

I ignored my teacher’s words. Class has finally ended.

“See you tomorrow!”

“Yeah, bye.”

I said goodbye to my friends from club and left.

We left school earlier than usual today, if I head home now, I’d be forced to stay there for longer. Because I don’t want that, I headed for the library that was on the way instead. After finding a seat near a window, I pretended to read and took out my phone and put it in my lap and browsed the activity on my alt.

“Have you heard of Needy Girl Syndrome?”

A line of text referencing some sort of illness caught my attention. After some investigation, it seems to be some rumor that’s garnered a bit of attention. Given how such rumors are quite common, I decided to ignore them. However, someone who had gone through a similar experience as mine replied to that comment. Given how they only replied a few minutes ago, I decided to join in on the conversation for a bit. 

I got so caught up in it that it was suddenly closing time already. So I packed my things and headed home.

I was in front of that house, at last. If I open this door, then I’d be forced to bear the discomfort of staying here.

Eh? I didn’t want to come back, did I? So why did I do so?

I sighed.

Image: Elim, high school second year, born in an upperclass family, constantly compared to her younger sister and has to undergo strict education.