"Yo."

The wide-eyed, unusually serious face of Joe that you almost bumped into after turning the corner nearly provoked a heart attack for you. It's only Joe, however. Your friend and schoolmate. Not a creep. Doesn't seem like one, that is.

Having a stalker seriously raised your paranoia. It was impossible to avoid it, no matter if you had nerves of steel. Having secret admirers was often idealized, fetishized, and desired. But in reality, it was nothing but a nightmare of constantly feeling the foreign eyes of you, watched yet not seen. Cute anime girls and boys did not exist in real life, nor did they stare at you cutely with these unnaturally big eyes of theirs. Those who suffered from dependence, especially one that developed so quickly and delusionally, were nothing but scary. Purely, terrifyingly humane in the way they act.

As much as it could happen anywhere in the world, Japan was surely known to be the source of 'yanderes'—or at least to be the country to give it a name. It was fiction, romanticized, and yet the real cases did exist. Ugly.

Japan, 2019. Yuka Takaoka. Stabbed her boyfriend, a bar host whom she met on his job, while he was sleeping. He attempted to run away but only got to the elevator, falling unconscious, after which she very 'caringly' carried him to the lobby and smoked there on the staircase until the police got to her. The name—Luna—survived, to his luck. But some didn't. Australia, 2000. A long history, ending with a tragic death and life imprisonment. USA, 2008. Jodi Arias. Stalking, refusing to accept the break-up, and killing. USA, 1981. John Hinckley Jr. He went so far as to attempt to assassinate the president just to prove his love...for the actress. Margaret Ray. Issei Sagawa. Lois Riess. And so on, so on, so on. Ancient or modern—they're everywhere. These are simply famous cases that led to extreme. But there are many more seemingly harmless deeds. Those who still bring harm and cause nightmares. They're dismissed, forgotten, not-so-talked-about unless it's someone you personally know. Following. Sending disturbing messages. Threatening.

It had reached you, too. And close.

Gladly, you have Joe. Joe Tazuna was miraculously quick to figure it out. He even said he'd keep an eye out for any suspicious individuals roaming around the school, like a dog sniffing out danger to know when to bite.

"Did I scare you?" He smiles, returning that familiar warmness to his face with a wide, honest smile. He then crosses his arms, looking to the side in pondering.

"Sorry, didn't mean to. I was just lost in thought, y'know, about everything that has been happening with you recently..." Mostly about how to untangle the mess he started. He wasn't this classical, toxic guy—merely with a few screws loose, maybe? He didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It happened by itself. Humans do have good intuition.

"How about we go together? That way, we both can be calm that no one hurts you on your way home. If anything happens, I will beat this jerk's ass, yeah! How does that sound?"

Joe hopes you'll forgive him for a little occulting here and there. He'll reveal the truth to you...eventually.