The Demons of Shadow Moon

Part 76 - Connection

Btw, Haru's design is outdated in the image above ⬆️

And so, Yurio, Atomu, and Kyou headed out to get materials for Echo. Meanwhile, Luna, Yachel and Leo stayed in the garden to build its beauty! Yukine stayed in his room, not wanting to deal with anyone. Echo did the same. Galaxy was nowhere to be seen, and Hiro... meh, who knows?

"Haha! Mission start!! Don't worry, Yurio!! I'll protect you all the way!!" Atomu beamed from outside.

"This isn't some dumb mission. Stop being childish," Yurio sighed.

Kyou looked back as they walked... to see Haru watching them from a window.

"Hm... so we don't connect with anyone but ourselves?" Haru muttered from the darkened halls.

He gradually turned around and walked across the hall.

A knock echoed on a door...

"Uh...?" Yukine turned his gaze to the door.

He had the same photo of him and Yachel - that Luna had picked up - in his hand.

He waited a second before getting up from his desk, putting the photo down.

The door slowly opened...

"Uh! ... mm," Yukine gasped, then exhaled with a grunt.

"Hey, Yukine," Haru smiled from the other side of the door.

"Now, this is out of character. What do you want?" Yukine asked with great disinterest.

"Well, just to talk. You said we don't connect with anyone... but you struggle with that too, don't you? So, why don't we help understand each other?" Haru suggested with a small blush of nervousness.

"... so now, all of a sudden, you want to understand me?" Yukine growled.

"Is that so wrong?" Haru asked.

"The notion isn't; the timing is," Yukine mentioned, closing the door.

"Uh..." Haru stood blankly as the door shut in front of him.

"Mmm..." His eyes darkened in annoyance.

Yukine walked back to his desk.

He saw the photo he had put down...

Looking at it brought back memories... memories of how things used to be. How he used to be...

He heard Yachel laughing from outside as he helped to plant flowers and food.

Flashback...

"Haha! Look, Yuu-kun! The flowers are blooming! Aren't they so pretty?" A small Yachel beamed.

"Whoa... they really are," Yukine smiled with a warm blush.

"We did such a good job!" Yachel clapped.

"We...? I didn't do much, though... you're the one who planted them," Yukine mumbled.

"Sure, you did!! You protected them from the storm!! Yuu-kun is so strong!!!" Yachel cheered.

"Because someone wouldn't wake up," Yukine reminded him.

"I was sleepyyyy," Yachel pouted.

"Because you work so hard to nurture life..." Yukine mentioned, gently lifting a petal with his finger.

"It's an angels job to do so! I'll protect everything too fragile to stand alone..." Yachel smiled.

"... you know you can't do that," Yukine mumbled.

"Huh??? Why not??" Yachel cried.

"... we can't protect everything... you know we're not like the angels, Yachel. We can't save everything just like that," Yukine lowered his gaze to see the petal he touched fall to the dirt...