Silver Voice

Hidden Scar

I was in the middle of changing my clothes with my back to the door, when someone walked in.

"Carys," I heard Mina's voice. Her footsteps stopped.

I pulled the blue T-shirt on over my head and said, "You should knock next time." I vaguely realized I had forgotten to lock the door. So, let me just say, from the bottom of my heart, my bad. Any situation that follows is entirely my fault.

She was staring at me wide-eyed. "Your back... scars."

I looked away, while Essie jumped on the bed and looked at me, worry in her eyes. "It's nothing." I looked back at her. "Is breakfast ready?"

"Yes," She said, her eyes downcast and full of sympathy.

"You really don't need to make that face. It was a long time ago," I said, pulling her hand. We walked to the table, and sat down in our respective seats.

"Mina? Are you alright?" Hajime asked. Wow, he's quite perceptive. "You look sad."

Mina glanced at me. I smiled inwardly. Everything she thinks is written all over her face. I shook my head and continued eating. It wasn't often that we all had breakfast together.

"Did you have a fight with Carys?" Kai asked. Looks like he saw her glancing at me.

I started choking on my food, and Shun thumped me on the back. "I swear I didn't do anything to your girlfriend."

Exclamations of surprise rang across the room again. Oh dear.

"Huh?" I asked. "Was that supposed to be a secret too?"

"We didn't... How?" Kai asked.

"Oh, I'm right?" I said, looking at Mina, whose face was turning red again.

"How did you know?" Mina asked, hiding her face in her hands.

"Magic," I said nonchalantly while Shun smiled.

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"These are so pretty," I said, turning the next page.

I was in Mina's room. She had invited me over, and I had accepted. Mina's room was neat, with books lining the walls. She had a few posters of Procellarum and Six Gravity lining the walls. She handed me an album and I was flipping through it. I saw a lot of her family pictures, and some more with the boys.

"How long have you been their assistant manager?" I asked, staring at a group photo.

"Six months," she said, taking a seat next to me. "Do you have any albums?"

I gave her a pointed look. "Oh, right. You had nothing when you came here."

She looked very curious, but didn't ask me anything. I could tell she was staring at me, trying to work up courage to ask me something. I had a very vague feeling it was about my family.

"Is there something you'd like to ask me?" I enquired, looking at a photo of a young Hajime. He hadn't changed much. The same black hair, violet eyes and intelligent face stared back at me.

"Did you run away from home?" She asked.

"Something like that, yeah." She looked around her room, and I found a few more photos of Hajime. I smiled as an idea formed in my head.

"Do you mind if I take some of these photos, take a copy to give to someone, and then give them back to you?" I asked.

She glanced at the photos I was looking at and smiled. "Going to give them to Shun?"