Red Strings ¦¦ Chishiya Shuntarou x OC

Twenty-Ninth String

Staring at her phone seemed to be the only thing Kurenai could do.

The last message she got from Chishiya was about two days ago, and he talked to her father yesterday. Ever since then, nothing else from him. She had sent him multiple messages and even tried calling him but he had not read her messages nor was he picking up.

Kurenai refused to believe that this was the true side of Chishiya. That he would accept whatever deal her father offered him. She absolutely refused to believe.

But as the hours went by, she was starting to doubt herself.

Who was she to think that she would find true love and happiness?

She was born a Chuya, which meant she was destined to be nothing but a tool for their family's success. Her father never found true love. His father never found true love. Nor did any of her ancestors. So why would she and Aoi?

Turning her phone off, she threw the device across her bed but only ten seconds later, she was crawling across the bed to turn it back on, as if she would get a reply from Chishiya then. The more she stared at the screen, the more depressed she became. Yet she could not pull herself away.

-

[My King]: I'll be gone

-

The first message in two days from Chishiya, and it was only three words.

Not the three words she expected to see, but it was three words too many to break her heart. She had no idea how long she had been staring at her phone screen, even after it had automatically blacked out, she was still staring at it.

I'll be gone.

Gone where? Gone forever?

Their relationship moved incredibly fast from their first meeting to when they confirmed that they were official. It was lust filled, and they could not keep their hands off each other. But Kurenai truly believed that they liked each other. Loved, even.

Though, it seemed like as quickly as they got together, they were separating just as fast.

Her mother's last words to her suddenly came to mind.

You're on your own now, Kurenai.

How right she was.

A mother truly knew best.

After going through a roller coaster of emotions, Kurenai was now sitting on her bed emotionless. Or rather, she did not know what to feel.

Should she be angry? But angry at who? And why? Should she be upset? But why should she be wasting her time and energy to be upset over someone who was so willing to give up on her?

--

Coming home from her daily grocery shop, Ayako was surprised to find Kurenai in the kitchen. She was so concentrated on cutting something that she did not pay attention to the older woman.

Ayako closed the door, walking over to see what Kurenai could be making. In front of her were three large glass bowls filled to the brim with cut vegetables, and Kurenai was still cutting more. Potatoes, carrots, aubergine, and many other vegetables. Anything Ayako had in the fridge, Kurenai had cut them all up.

This was a little alarming for Ayako.

Not only did no recipe in the world need that many vegetables, but Ayako had never seen Kurenai acting like this before.

She was looking down as she was chopping, but her eyes were empty. The apartment was eerily quiet too, and Kurenai usually had classical music that would reflect her mood. Whether she was happy or angry, or even just neutral, she had something on.

"Miss Kurenai?"

No response.

That was when Ayako noticed something even more distressing than Kurenai's odd behaviours.

On another chopping board, just to the right of Kurenai, was her phone with a large knife stabbed through the screen. The device was pinned to the board, and clearly unusable. This was rage on another level. Rage that Ayako had never seen before.

Whilst keeping an eye on Kurenai the entire time, Ayako stepped off to the side and called Aoi. This was not something she could handle by herself. She needed Aoi here in case Kurenai's rage escalated to something more than just stabbing her own phone and chopping everything she could find in the fridge.

Within twenty minutes, Aoi arrived at the apartment.

By then, Ayako had been trying to talk to Kurenai but to no avail. She did not make eye contact, she did not even acknowledge Ayako's presence.

"She's been like that since I got back. I don't know how long she's been doing that," Ayako whispered to Aoi. "She chopped every single vegetable I had in the fridge and now she's moved on to the meat."

"Kurenai," Aoi frowned, walking up to his sister. "Kurenai, are you okay? Is this...is this because of Chishiya?"

At the mention of his name, Kurenai suddenly stopped. She raised the knife and pointed it at Aoi, and the look in her eyes was terrifying. It was as if she was murderous, even though the person standing in front of her was her own brother.

"Do not say that name."

"Okay...okay," Aoi said, holding his hand up and was slowly backing away though Kurenai was following him with the knife still in her hand. "Kurenai, please put the knife down."

"Please, Miss Kurenai, you are scaring me."

Tears were starting to roll down her cheeks as Kurenai was trying to keep her emotions in check. She kept telling herself that she was not going to cry. She should not be crying. Why should she be wasting energy and tears over a man who was obviously not worth it?

Why did it hurt so much?

"Why...?" she mumbled, looking at Aoi with defeat in her eyes. "Why must I be a Chuya? Why can't I have an ordinary life? Why can't I fall in love like everyone else does?"

It broke Aoi's heart to see his sister like this. Kurenai had always been the stronger one between them. She was always the one who held it all together, the one who pushed through. She had been so cynical about life for so long and she finally found what she thought was her happiness only for this to happen.

"Kurenai..."

"I'm starting to understand how mother felt."

Seven words, and they scared Aoi more than the knife she had pointed at him.

"Don't say that," he said. "Do not say that. You are not going to do the same thing she did."

"My life has ended the day I was born," Kurenai cried. "With that man as our father, we are good as dead."

"No, we are not! You have a plan, do you not? You've been working so hard towards it, are you going to give up now just because of one person? That's not you!"

Aoi's words seemed to be getting through to her as she slowly lowered the knife. He was right. She had a plan she had been working for since the day she graduated from university. Everything she had done would be for nothing if she gave up here. And she would have to leave this world knowing that her father won. She was not about to let that happen.

That was when Aoi's phone buzzed with a message from Atsushi.

-

[Father]: Tomorrow night at 7, come to the Border Hotel. Bring your sister too. Make sure she's dressed well.